Sunday, April 27, 2008

Thank You Chicago!



Really...The Mammals want to extend a huge thank you to all of you who came and supported us as we re-entered the Chicago Theatre Scene. To those out there who were able to come see Clay Continent, we extend our gratitude. It has been an arduous but rewarding road back into production here in the Windy City. It is the assertion of all of us involved in the Mammals various projects that this is still the very best city in which to live and make art, especially theatre!

If you wanted to but weren't able to make it out to see Clay Continent, fret not. The Mammals are not yet finished mining the psychological ground set down in the novella Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (as well as other sources).



Due to the overwhelming positive feedback regarding images of the dramatis persona posted on this blog, we hope to do a serial web comic version of Clay Continent which will be starting later this summer. Also there will be a web based comic/graphic novel of Bob Fisher's new script The Meatlocker

Also, this winter the Mammals will begin workshopping a evolution/companion piece to Clay Continent entitled The Dream Journals of Doctor Jekyll.



We'll be taking the next week off from posting to prepare for the Summer of 2008. This summer marks a new beginning for our company and we've got lots of projects in the works that we hope will continue to excite you Chicago!

Next up for full production will be a remount of our critically acclaimed, crowd pleaser Mexican Wrestling Macbeth. Watch this space for more details.

Once Again, thanks so much. See you in a week!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Last Chance to see Don Hall as Utterson the Demon


This weekend is your last chance to see Don Hall give as good as he gets in Clay Continent.

Don't miss this show!!!!

Friday April 25th & Sat April 26th at 8pm

at the Peter Jones Gallery
1806 West Cuyler, 2nd Floor,
Chicago IL 60613

to reserve tickets call
1 866-593-4614

Last Chance to see Dave Goss as Hyde


This weekend is your last chance to see Dave Goss' visceral and haunting rendition of Edward Hyde in Clay Continent.

Don't miss this show!!!!

Friday April 25th & Sat April 26th at 8pm

at the Peter Jones Gallery
1806 West Cuyler, 2nd Floor,
Chicago IL 60613

to reserve tickets call
1 866-593-4614

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Last Chance to see Jen Ellison as Jekyll



This weekend is your last chance to see Jen Ellison put in a brilliant performance as Henry Jekyll in Clay Continent.

Don't miss this show!!!!

Friday April 25th & Sat April 26th at 8pm

at the Peter Jones Gallery
1806 West Cuyler, 2nd Floor,
Chicago IL 60613

to reserve tickets call
1 866-593-4614

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Your Final Chance to see Clay Continent!!!!

CLOSING WEEKEND!!!
LAST CHANCE!!!

Don't miss this show!!!!

Friday April 25th & Sat April 26th at 8pm

at the Peter Jones Gallery
1806 West Cuyler, 2nd Floor,
Chicago IL 60613

to reserve tickets call
1 866-593-4614

Friday, April 18, 2008

Jekyll : Don't Make Me Angry. You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry

Reminder - Only One Show this weekend.

That's right, If you are planning to see Clay Continent this weekend, then it has to be tonight Friday April 18th at 8pm. Due to a double booking at the venue...there will be no performance on Saturday April 19th.

Can't make it out this weekend? No worries, you still next Friday April 25th and Saturday April 26th to catch the show.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Jekyll Examines Hyde

Only 3 Shows Left!!!!

Due to a scheduling conflict with the venue, there are only 3 remaining performances of Clay Continent left

Friday April 18th &
Friday April 25th & Sat April 26th

All shows are at 8pm - $10.00

There is No show on April 19th.

We've been getting great houses so if you want to catch one of the remaining three performances make sure to call for reservations...1 866-593-4614

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Metromix says check out Clay Continent!!!!


Shock doc: In case your fear of doctors isn’t what it used to be, the Mammals Theatre Company revives “Clay Continent,” a horror play about a doctor’s desperate attempt to crush his own demonic possession. The show draws on excerpts from Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Jekyll and Hyde,” Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground” and several Edgar Allen Poe stories. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday through April 26. $10. Peter Jones Gallery.

Friday, April 11, 2008

The Reader Recommends Clay Continent!!!

Clay Continent,
Mammals, at the Space.

The title comes from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: "Is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent?" A phantasmagoric collage of Robert Louis Stevenson's story and others, this is a script whose invention lies mostly in the juxtaposition of borrowed texts--to fully appreciate it you'd need a libretto and likely a degree in literature. But for the most part the Mammals clear this hurdle with their raw, audacious lighting, stagecraft, and sound, throwing Clay Continent's cerebral content into tense, delirious relief. Adapter-director Bob Fisher has pared the characters down to the two principals and Jekyll's lawyer Utterson, murdered here and reborn as avenging superego. Broadly speaking, conceits from Poe blur Stevenson's supernatural science fiction into the sicker, more bewildering madness of "William Wilson" and "The Premature Burial"; excerpts from Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground flesh out the story's dualism, giving Hyde a more recognizable self-loathing and Jekyll a more penetrating if unhinged rationality. Fisher's seamless, often ingenious recombinations are miked through headsets, amplified, distorted, and woven into various menacing industrial throbs, enveloping the audience in a clatter of overlapping lines. Meanwhile the bloody Grand Guignol staging and action break the psychodramatic relationships down to a procession of vivid, visceral ideographs that jerk things along while exposing the contradictions in the doctor's alienated intelligence...the Mammals do a close to flawless job handling difficult but thrilling material.

--Brian Nemtusak

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

More Digital Word of Mouth on Clay Continent

Clay Continent

This forty-five minute show unfolds as snapshots of a feverish nightmare...a series of unrelenting images that build to the haunting final scene... The common fault of much of the contemporary horror genre is the fallacy that more is more. Adaptor/director Bob Fisher wisely avoids that trap. True terror doesn’t come from more blood and gore, it rests in the imagination where Continent firmly affixes itself. It’s a show unlike anything you’re likely to find on a Chicago stage and probably the best $10 you can spend on a weekend night out.

-Tony Adams

Clay Continent
Through April 26
The Mammals at the Peter Jones Gallery
1806 West Cuyler,
2nd Floor in Chicago

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Chicago Theatre Blogosphere Responds to Clay Continent

This show is a feast for the senses. And it's not for the squeamish...the very stuff of nightmares...I really enjoyed myself at this show. Bob Fisher has created a dark and creepy world with enough gore to make me have to look away once or twice...

- Michael Brownlee

The Blood, Mother!!!! Oh, God, the Blood!!!!!!

-Greyzelda