Canadian troupe melds Chaplin, modern dance in 'Overcoat,' a sublime, wordless theater piece
Robert Hurwitt, Chronicle Theater Critic

Friday, September 2, 2005

Beautifully tailored, luxuriantly lined in the music of Dmitri Shostakovich and irresistibly modeled on the Geary Theater stage, "The Overcoat" is the height of fashion for the new fall season. Never mind that it may be a tad early to break out the heavy winter wear. The Canadian import that opened the American Conservatory Theater's season Wednesday is a delightfully lyrical, passionate, funny, wistful and engrossing treat for all seasons.

Without a word

THE ELOQUENT POWER OF MOVEMENT BRINGS EXPRESSION TO `THE OVERCOAT'

By Mark de la Viña

Mercury News

The gestures of silent film icons were worth as much as any monologue or well-crafted turn of phrase. It's that kind of subtle movement and wondrously choreographed pantomime that drives ``The Overcoat,'' the ingeniously staged adaptation of the Nikolai Gogol short story being presented by the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

Created and directed by Morris Panych and Wendy Gorling, ``The Overcoat'' is a dialogue-free delight about a desk jockey whose life is transformed by an article of clothing. Lush music by Dmitri Shostakovich not only intensifies the piece's Russian flavor but provides cues for the cast of 22 to dance with office furniture, pantomime travel on packed buses and putter through a dreary industrial landscape that suggests Chaplin's ``Modern Times.''

Wearing It Well
CanStage's wordless version of The Overcoat explores the soul of a dreamer in a workaday world
By Chloe Veltman

Smack in the middle of CanStage's whirlwind theatrical adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's short story "The Overcoat" (1842), all activity screeches to a sudden halt. Blinded by an intense golden light, actors playing the employees of an architecture firm stagger backward in awe, as if a UFO has just alighted in the wings, stage left. Orchestral music rises to a triumphal crescendo. The office workers hold their breath, as do we. After what seems like an eternity, a figure shuffles onstage. It isn't an alien, but it might as well be.