Review: 'The Cryptogram' -- Mamet at his briefest

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Last update: February 19, 2007 – 1:02 PM

By Graydon Royce, Star Tribune

Walking Shadow Theatre Company, a group of idealistic youngsters, is one of the new entries in the small-theater scene, assuming the mantle from artists exhausted by the grind of creating work for little recompense.

I became aware of Walking Shadow, which has been around since 2004, through an eerie and ambitious piece in last summer's Fringe Festival. They are back at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage with David Mamet's "The Cryptogram," a 65-minute tryptych in which a small family's homeostasis is ritually hollowed out when a father bails out.

Annelise Christ, whose Hidden Theatre was once a darling of the small scene, directs with a brisk clip that matches Mamet's trademark concision.

However, this technical efficiency robs the necessary sense of transformation. Jake Ingbar, all of 11 years old, shows an extraordinary introspection as young Johnny, whose hopes for a weekend in the woods with his dad turn sour when dad's news lands. Peter Ooley shades family friend Del with a bland normalcy which, when critical secrets emerge, pricks our curiosity about this odd duck.

These two seem so natural that Annie Enneking's studied precision as the abandoned mother sticks out. It is just too easy to see her acting. (7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sun., 711 W. Franklin Av., Mpls. $14-$16, 612-375-0300. Ends March 3.)

GRAYDON ROYCE

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