Philadelphia Weekly

Gas & Electric Arts opens their fourth season with an absorbing production of Kira Obolensky’s bold family drama Cabinet of Wonders, An Impossible History .

The first play commissioned by the enterprising G&E, Wonders is a bizarre but fascinating exploration of what defines a family. Under Lisa Jo Epstein’s imaginative direction the show uses inanimate objects, bodies, movement and sound to immerse audiences in a world both strange and oddly familiar.


Although the scenario bears a passing resemblance to Arthur Miller’s The Price , Obolensky takes a unique approach to the subject of family. Described as a “physical object theatre piece” the play combines storytelling and installation art to show a familial history composed of equal parts reality and fiction.

Wonders focuses on Leopold (Ross Beschler) and Christina (Catherine K. Slusar). They appear to be brother and sister, but like everything else about the family, their precise relationship is uncertain. Evicted from the family home, they can only take what they can carry. Deciding what to save among the family heirlooms stuffed into a variety of cabinets is no small task, and they argue. Christina (who says one cabinet contains “maps to show me where I was”) wants to take “things that will help us remember.” Leopold argues they should only bring “things that we can use.”


It would be unfair to reveal how the pair resolves the difference, but as the play develops, the family’s mysterious history captures our attention. We learn the clan had an entertainment act. The father was a knife thrower and the kids performed a song and dance. Beyond that, nothing is certain.


It doesn’t help that Christina is reluctant to reveal information. She won’t even tell us her name. Instead she calls herself “the opener.” “I open what deserves to be open,” she explains.


Leopold calls Christina by another name: “castration queen.” Regardless of the unflattering title the two seem dedicated to each other if for no other reason than that they have nowhere else to turn.


Instead of a defined playing area, 
Epstein uses the play’s hybrid form to expand the action into every corner of the cavernous underground space. Lighting designer James Clotfelter makes great use of the objects that clutter the area giving the production a visual signature that is both distinct and effectively dreamlike. 


Obolensky’s script is in sore need of some judicious edits and even at a mere 90 minutes the play has moments of tedium. Slusar brings some clarity to the proceedings with her thoughtful portrayal of the enigmatic Christina, but Beschler (who gave a terrific performance last season in Lantern Theater Company’s The Lonesome West ) is a disappointment and his overly eccentric depiction of Leopold lacks dimension. 


Nevertheless Obolensky’s play and Epstein’s production are so artistically audacious we can forgive the faults. Daring and unpredictable, Wonders doesn’t always achieve its goals, but its originality more than compensates for its occasional lapses. ■

Cabinet of Wonders, An Impossible History


Through Oct. 24. $22-$25. Underground 
Arts at the Wolf, 340 N. 12th St. 215.407.0556. gasandelectricarts.org