by KYW's Bob Nelson
Philadelphia's Interact Theatre Company is launching its new season with an elaborate production of a new play highlighting what might be called a soup-to-nuts examination of commercial wrestling, race, and show business.
Latino playwright Kristoffer Diaz is responsible for a considerable output on a number of subjects, but I believe his most ambitious project is his recent take on commercial wrestling, which he portrays as a monstrous, TV-driven, money-making, geopolitical giant with ramifications beyond our wildest dreams.
"The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity" has a longwinded first act despite a tidal wave of energy and theatrical detail, with a full-size ring, TV screens, and characters of international stripe. It's as physically active as it is verbally excessive.
Commercial wrestling is show business, not sport, and if you're aching for a physically wacky good time in which bodies are bounced about like so many beach balls, this just may be your show -- a show in which a TV hustler actually grooms a Muslim fundamentalist as a challenger.
The production has only seven characters, including a blonde who spends most of her time snapping pictures.
Seth Rozin directs -- or should we say referees -- the activities.
"The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity" runs thrugh November 22nd at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre, 2111 Sansom Street, in center city (one block west of Interact's normal venue, the Adrienne Theatre).
(Photo provided by Interact Theatre Co.)
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