Donkey Kong
By MICHAEL SMITH World Scene Writer, 3/7/2004
Joseph Gomez, Lynn Kelsey and Sara Cruncleton (left to right) in "The Golden Ass." MICHAEL WYKE / Tulsa World
2,000-year-old Latin novel is inspiration for 'Golden Ass'
The folks at the Nightingale Theater love to have fun. But their idea of how to get there is almost certainly different from that of - oh .just about everyone.
When Midwestern Theater Troupe artistic director John Cruncleton says that his new project is bottom-line hilarious and terrifically clownish, the everyday person is thinking of a straight comedy, probably something low-brow and basic.
But where is Cruncleton's head? It's currently wrapped around staging his adaptation of a 2,000-year-old Latin novel about a man who turns into a donkey and stars a live cast for the first act and shadow puppets only for the second act.
Admit it, you weren't expecting "The Golden Ass." But then, this company has become synonymous with presenting the unexpected.
Cruncleton's latest flight of fancy is an adaptation of Apuleius' ancient story of Lucius, whose curiosity and fascination for sex and magic results in his transformation into an ass.
After suffering a series of trials and humiliations, he is offered an opportunity for redemption - and to return to human form - by a kindly goddess.
Simultaneously a blend of adventure, fable and comic bawdiness, "The Golden Ass" is considered one of the seminal works of European literature and one of the earliest examples of the picaresque, those tales chronicling the adventures of a roguish hero.
"It's got a lot of high metaphysics and a lot of low comedy, which I think is a good combination," Cruncleton said. "It is possible to consider the bigger things in life without being weighted down in pretension or undue solemnity."
The first half of the play, leading up to Lucius's transformation into an ass, stars a live cast that includes Cruncleton and his wife, Sara, as well as Lynn Kelsey, Heather Sams, Joseph Gomez, Jason Watts, David Jefferis, Jae Wilson and Owen Froeschle.
But the second half jumps into full fantasy mode, and the director decided that shadow puppets - manipulated and voiced by the actors - would be an effective way to get that point across.
"It's a lot easier to present the two-dimensional cut-out of an ass rather than contrive a costume or a live actor," Cruncleton said with a chuckle.
"When I first approached everyone about the project, I think that was the best selling point of the show. It's something everyone wanted to try."
THE GOLDEN ASS
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, also 8 p.m. March 18-20
Where: Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
Tickets: $8, may be reserved by calling 583-8487 [As of February 2007, 633-8666]
Note: for mature audiences