Waking the Inner Child

Perhaps it’s not for everybody, but “Bother!� may be the local theatrical event of the year.

The last in Theater 150’s wide-ranging and excellent series of one-person shows, it features English actor Peter Dennis in a program devoted to Winnie-the-Pooh. Not the watered-down, Disneyfied Pooh, mind you, but A.A. Milne’s original tales of Christopher Robin, Pooh (“a bear with a pleasing personality,� another character has it, “but with a startling lack of brain�), and other inhabitants of Milne’s real-life son’s toy chest and the author’s own imagination.

Dennis is a brilliant storyteller, whether reenacting tales from Milne’s books, reading the author’s pre-Seuss poetry or relating anecdotes--some of them heartbreaking--about the Milne family (with whom he was friends) and the real-life Christopher Robin’s spiky relationship with the oeuvre in which he starred and that he largely loathed.

It would take more than eight hours to read the complete contents of Milne’s four Pooh-related books, Dennis explained at Friday’s opening, so he provides a program of 90 minutes or so, including audience requests, if any.

That evening’s selection, probably typical, included the popular poem “Vespers� (“Christopher Robin is saying his prayers . . . “), “Disobedience� (“James, James, Morrison, Morrison�), which was much later set to music by the Chad Mitchell Trio, and several adventures of Pooh, the mopey donkey Eeyore, andTigger, Kanga, Roo, Piglet and Owl.

As was clear from the response of the largely middle-aged opening-night audience, these witty, insightful works are “not ‘children’s books,’ � as Dennis put it, “but books for the child within us all.� Nevertheless, he will present a special, briefer, edition especially for youngsters Saturday afternoon.

There may be no books that are more fun to read aloud to children. Still, hearing it done by a pro--perhaps the pro--is not to be missed.

DETAILS

“Bother!� continues at 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday at Theater 150, 918 E. Ojai Ave. in Ojai. All seats are $20. At 2:30 p.m. Saturday will be an abbreviated version, intended specifically for younger children. Tickets are $20; $10, ages 12 and up; and $5, ages 5-12. For reservations for any performance (strongly recommended) or further information, call 646-4300.

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“Musketeers� Hit the Road: The local enterprise known as Classics in the Park has generally, if not always, presented Shakespeare plays in parks and like venues around the county. “The Three Musketeers,� this year’s presentation, debuted last weekend in Thousand Oaks.

Although director Michael Jordan’s adaptation is hardly Shakespeare, it’s tremendous fun and likely to capture a larger, more receptive audience.

Jordan has given Alexander Dumas’ novel a contemporary language and flavor, something like TV’s “Hercules: the Legendary Journeys� or even (though on a much less ambitious literary level) “Shakespeare in Love.�

Coupled with a company of actors whose enthusiasm in some cases exceeds their artistic grasp and whose accents range from exaggerated French to Cockney to Southern, these “Musketeers� provide a fine evening’s entertainment.

Much of the humor, it should be made clear, is quite intentional, and that which isn’t spoils nothing.

Flynn Michael Bradley portrays d’Artagnan, the country boy who before long joins King Louis XIII’s (Sergio Bertolli) Royal Musketeers, specifically the trio of Athos (Jerry Adair), Porthos (an excellent Cliff Jacobs) and Aramis (Roscoe Gaines).

The overall story is of the attempt by Cardinal Richelieu (Jordan) to wrest power from the King, and of the conniving Milady de Winter’s (Suzanne Tobin) quest for vengeance upon a Musketeer who done her wrong sometime earlier.

Several subplots lead to what may be the show’s major drawback: a running time of just under three hours, which is more than any child, certainly, could be expected to sit through, no matter how action-packed or humorous.

Distressingly, one of the evening’s easiest scenes to cut, de Winter’s attempt to escape from prison, is also one of its better dramatic moments.

Notable among the supporting players are Pamela Canton and Karl Mickelson as the object of d’Artagnan’s affection and her dimwitted husband (this is a French story, after all) and John Mundy as one of Richelieu’s henchmen.

(Not to spoil anyone’s evening, but all ends well, so you can leave early, if necessary).

DETAILS

“The Three Musketeers� continues at various locations in the area through Aug. 1. Performances Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. will be outside the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd. in Thousand Oaks; tickets are $5. The show moves to Grape Arbor, Canwood and Parkville in Calabasas on July 18 at 5 p.m.; admission is free. On July 25 at 7 p.m., the performance will be at the Arts Council Center, 482 Greenmeadow (off Moorpark Road) in Thousand Oaks; tickets are $5. At 5:30 p.m. July 31, the play will be performed at the Rancho Simi Amphitheatre at Erringer and Royal in Simi Valley; also free. On Aug. 1, the show will be performed at 5 p.m. at the Creekside Park and Community Center, 3655 Old Topanga Canyon Road in Calabasas; free.

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Todd Everett can be reached at [email protected]