Like a Box of Chocolates

THEATER REVIEW: 1812 Productions' An Evening Without Woody Allen

by Mark Cofta

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Those who know Woody Allen only through his films miss his prose's special spark. Allen's short stories and essays echo his early movies' giddy absurdity and his well-crafted, subtle, incisive later work, but with a verbal nimbleness too artificial for film.

In 1812 Productions' An Evening Without Woody Allen, that heightened prose plays on stage through a superb cast: Charlotte Ford, Dan Hodge and Thomas E. Shotkin. Director Jen Childs' collection starts with actors at music stands, and we're right to fear that we're in for books-on-tape onstage. As our ears adjust to "The Whore of Mensa" — a rat-a-tat noir spoof in which a detective delves into the seamy underworld of men buying the company of brainy women — these talented performers shed those trappings and, with no costume changes and only a few props, bring the stories to life.

Childs lavishes the most effort on "The Kugelmass Episode," in which a hapless professor (Shotkin) enlists a magician to send him into the novel Madame Bovary for a tryst with the title character. "A Look at Organized Crime" wins for silliness, as Ford drolly describes fictional Mafia history; another essay, "A Brief But Helpful Guide to Civil Disobedience," likewise makes a serious topic delightfully comic. Some material, ranging from 1970 to 2007, feels dated — listen for the hollow "plop" of the Mary McCarthy punch line — but the show allows no pause to puzzle.

Allen's short works are better enjoyed on the page — sculpted like gourmet chocolates, they're best mulled lazily, one at a time — and Childs wisely limits this not-quite-play, more-than-reading to 80 minutes, with brilliant actors making each word special. Still, some brilliant lines were meant to be savored on the page, some moments meant to be read again and again.

Through May 16, $25-$32, Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey St., 215-592-9560, 1812productions.org.