Review: SPIRITS TO ENFORCE from Catastrophic Theatre

Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be relieved by prayer.”

― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

Picture twelve desperate people on the phone trying to sell tickets and donor packages to an artistic event. Simple, right? Playwright Mickle Maher often works in creating three distinct worlds simultaneously and blends them together in a Ninja food processor. With SPIRITS TO ENFORCE, you have what seems to be the dreary boiler room of normal folks cold-calling potential patrons for a struggling production of THE TEMPEST. Still, this is the cast of said show, and they are, in reality, all superheroes of their local city calling from their secret submarine hideout. Also, through casual conversation they are breaking down the plot of THE TEMPEST as if they are a dozen (or more) of the characters in Shakespeare’s play. And did I mention, as the audience, that we never really see them talk to each other (save for a couple of minutes)?

So this play becomes meta upon meta upon meta until the whole thing feels like a teetering Jenga puzzle of babble that has been produced by CATASTROPHIC THEATRE, home of the avant-garde and surreal in Houston. If you are familiar with struggling to produce art and Shakespeare’s fantastical romance, then you will be on firm ground. But even if you are not either a theater or literature major, the play is quite funny and absurd, all on its own terms. Like Shakespeare, Maher’s work has poetry to it. But like a tempestuous storm, it is a cacophonous symphony of words so dense that it would shipwreck even royalty from Naples. SPIRITS TO ENFORCE is almost a verbal dance piece, and the lifts are really amazing. But this is ballet, folks, so you gotta have patience and appreciate the artistry. It runs long, like most Shakespeare. But it is exquisite when you take it in as a whole, the way you do with true art.

And when we mention art, as an actor sometimes myself, the idea of this troop knowing where their cue is in this one hour and forty-minute piece baffles me. The ensemble in SPIRITS TO ENFORCE has to have one-sided (mostly) conversations on the phone, facing out to the audience almost the entire time, and often simultaneously or in tandem. It is a tour de force of slinging lines out and tapping phones rhythmically to create a soundscape. Face out, phone up, and go… very, very fast. The entire ensemble is superhuman in being able to pump this one out. And director Batman Jones, real name Jason Nodler, uses a static staging to focus sheerly on their lines. While other productions have had the heroes racing around, he keeps them still and in a perfect line to make sure we pay attention where it needs to be paid… to their words and not their actions.

(possible minor spoilers ahead)

The audience pieces together the narrative from these one-sided conversations, and it involves the flailing theatrical work and the escape of a supervillain named Dr. Cannibal in the fictional Fathom Town. The superheroes and their powers seem almost useless – pleasing conversation or fragrances. Yet, these are not random. Each of the powers and personas come from the characters these folks portray in THE TEMPEST. Use the following cheat sheet when you see SPIRITS TO ENFORCE, which gives you the actors’ names, civilian identities, superhero personas, and who they are in the Shakespeare play:

Clarity Welch: Don Adams/The Silhouette/All Masque Characters
Rebecca Randall: Donna Blake/The Bad Map/Trinculo
Noel Bowers: Oliver Kendall/Fragrance Fellow/Sebastian
Jovan Jackson: Craig Cale/The Pleaser/Antonio
Jenna Morris Miller: Susan Tanner/Memory Lass/Miranda
Karina Pal Montano-Bowers: Cecily Gray/The Page/Prospero
Walt Zipprian: Emory Lawson/Ariel/Ariel
Tamarie Cooper: Rebecca Lloyd/The Ocean/Gonzalo
Abraham Zeus Zapata: Wayne Simon/The Untangler/Caliban
Kyle Sturdivant: Dale Clark/The Intoxicator/Stephano
Bryan Kaplun: Randell James/The Tune/Ferdinand
Raymond Compton: Brad Allen/The Snow Heavy Branch/Boatswain (maybe?)

(end possible spoilers)

Of course, the above chart is simply my conjecture, and honestly, almost anything could be interpreted from the show. Are the superheroes really simply the spirits that Prospero conjured on the island, still free after all these years? Could Fathom City have been taken over by Dr. Cannibal (an anagram for Caliban) because he fled and tossed his books into the sea? Is this a sequel, a salute, or a sardonic spoof of Shakespeare’s work? Is art really this hard to produce? Why did I untangle and retie the knot they gave me with my program when I walked in?

Truly, the ensemble is immaculate, and they create a symphony that relies as much on each other individually as it does them in the sum total. Telling you who was my favorite would be like pointing out someone in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but I will say these few things. I loved Walt Zipprian’s reworking of Ariel, a mystical narrator and nymph who has suddenly become earthy, tall, and possessed of a booming voice. Tamarie Cooper is hysterical as The Ocean, constantly threatening to place the audience on the crest of a wave. Karina Pal Montano-Bowers commands her role as The Page and a serious wizard, using her smoky voice to enchant. And, of course, Kyle Sturdivant mines physical comedy from his role as The Intoxicator and somehow turns talking on the phone into something terribly busy and hilarious. Yet this cast is all wonderful. They all are mighty!

The sound design from Andrew Archer is the base for all the actor’s music, and it is quite effective in setting the submarine mood. Matt Fries gives us the simplest curves and a port window to suggest submerging in the ocean. And as always, Jason Nodler proves the master of the absurd in bringing Mickle Maher’s work alive once again at Catastrophic. The director once told me Catastrophic as a company was for people “who didn’t like theatre.” And this is true. Because this production seems to love theatre, and it is made for people who do. And not the simple theatre, but the complex, the kind you have to fight for. The kind you probably need to get superheroes to telemarket for you.

SPIRITS TO ENFORCE runs at the MATCH facility through October 12th. Fridays offer free beer, and tickets are always “Pay-What-You-Can,” but considering these guys have superheroes in the cast… I want to be in the “Speeding Bullet” category at the very least. THE MATCH is easy to park at, including pay-for parking in a garage and free street parking – just remember to take all valuables in. The heroes are working to put on the play, so crime still happens.