Review: THE CALL OF THE WILD at Baltimore Theatre Project Intrigues

I had never heard of the Baltimore Theatre Project. As someone who fancies herself pretty up on the theater scene in the area, I was very surprised that it had never been on my radar. The Baltimore Theatre Project is a small regional theater located in the arts district of Baltimore City. They've been around since 1971 and are a force for new and independent works regionally. The theater itself is located in a quintessential Baltimore housing row on Preston Street, near the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

What's so impressive about the Project is what they've done with the space. On first glance, from the outside, you assume you'll be walking into a tiny theater in someone's living room. But after ascending a few stairs, you're lead into a 150 seat theater with raised seating and a domed ceiling. I have absolutely no idea how they fit it into the space, but they managed it beautifully. After ogling at the space for a bit, it was time to get down to the business of seeing a show.

This performance was to be a one man telling of THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London, and performed and adapted by Charlie Bethel. Bethel is no stranger to one man performances. He's played many coast to coast, in all sorts of different venues. I was curious to see this particular performance for two reasons. I've never actually read THE CALL OF THE WILD (Sorry to all of the English teachers out there!) so I was interested to hear the story. And as someone who can't even imagine standing in front of a group of people completely alone, and performing something you've created, I was in awe of his ability and his passion to do so.

I had sort of assumed that he would be portraying different characters in the story, in the same way a comedian portrays different characters in a stand-up routine. However, after initially "being the dog" and consuming, what I hope wasn't really dog food, he settled into a podium and read the piece for the rest of the evening. His ability to use different voices and dialects brought the material to life. He was assisted in his pursuit by some tech - music, light cues and sound effects which also went a long way towards bringing Buck - a large dog and main character of the story - alive for the audience.

Everyone knows that stories about animals are tough. Most people would rather do mostly anything else than think about harm or pain being inflicted on animals. And this story of Buck, is rougher than most. Buck had to overcome a great deal of pain in his life, which is often hard to hear about. That made me wonder why Bethel would choose this piece to begin with. But after seeing the performance - I won't spoil the story for those that haven't seen it - I think I understand why. The story is ultimately a story of perseverance and triumph over obstacles. And, honestly, who doesn't love to see the underdog win?

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