A Shadow Bright And Burning




   Black Button Eyes Productions, under the leadership of producer/director Ed Rutherford, is now celebrating a decade of bringing lush, beautiful works of dark fantasy to Chicago stages.


   Their latest, an adaptation of Jessica Cluess' 2016 YA fantasy novel, A Shadow Bright and Burning, showcases the company's talents at their height.

   The story is set in an alternate vision of Victorian English where magic is real and commonplace, divided into a strict hierarchy. The Sorcerers (all male, respectable, scholarly upper crust gentlemen, stiff upper lip, Rule Brittania and all that) the Magicians (co-ed, dashing rogues and con artists) and Witches (well, you can guess, and as of this installment they've all been burned to death)

   The surviving Magicians are subjects of disdain because some time back, they and the Witches accidentally released the Ancients, (essentially Lovecraft's Old Ones, otherdimensional beasties that want to drive you mad, devour your body and soul etc.) who have been terrorizing the Emerald Isle since.

   Our heroine Henrietta (Annemarie Andaleon) is a poor, orphan girl with a talent for controlling fire that catches the eye of head Sorcerer Cornelius Agrippa (Timothy Griffin) looking very healthy a couple of centuries after his counterpart in our world passed on. Agrippa thinks Henrietta may be the prophecied Chosen One, the first female qualified to be a Sorcerer. Agrippa whisks her off to his School For Gifted Youngsters where she meets the handsome dandy Magnus (David Lipschutz), and stuck up rich guy Blackwood (North Homewood) who is just infuriating so why is she so charmed? She also discovers a more unsavory but perhaps more fitting mentor in the form of the loathed magician Hargrove. (Darren Jones)

   If you are familiar with YA fantasy beats this will all seem familiar as Henrietta does battle with the bad guys while also facing prejudice and paranoia within the ranks of the allegedly good. Andaleon does a fine job with the nuances of of her character, fundamentally heroic, but also dangerously drawn to glory and fame.

   True to house style, Rutherford and his crew, particularly costume designer Rachel Sypniewski do not skimp on the horror elements. The Ancients are all terrifyingly incarnated and will provide no shortage of nightmare fuel for the sensitive.

   This show is a treat for any fan of a well rendered fantasy world unfolding live before them.


The Edge Theatre
5451 N. Broadway Chicago
Thursday-Saturday 7:30pm
Sunday 3pm
Through September 28th

   

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