Stormy weather: Fleas, flatulence and the meaning of life are among the subjects broached by Strepsiades, Socrates and the gang from Aristophanes' The Clouds, Gorilla Theatre's twelfth annual production of a "Sunrise Greek Show," this year at Wheeler Amphitheatre in Theis Park. Thirteen women play the atmospheric title characters, winsomely costumed by Georgianna Londre in pillowy layers of white (and thirteen different hats). Darren Sextro has blustery fun playing the author chastising the audience for not having "the wit and intelligence" to appreciate his work. Still, the show is wordy and tedious.
The story ostensibly follows attempts by Strepsiades (Chris Johnson) to find ways to settle his monumental debts, but it generates all the fascination of listening to someone's credit history. Director Dan DeMott and choreographer Sally Crawford give the clouds a range of actions and reactions to Strepsiades, but they merely distract from the tale's problematic hero. And Johnson's scenery chewing and bellowing, one-note diction give his frequent speeches the monochromatic tint of unbridled buffoonery; he could be playing Bluto in a live-action Popeye strip.
The show might be more involving if stagehands and actors weren't wandering in plain sight behind a set large enough to keep them contained. Or if the preshow announcement that we were about to see a 90-minute show had been more honest -- at the 110-minute point, new characters were still being introduced. There's a market for and newsworthiness about this kind of thing -- the hill was well populated at 7:30 a.m. with kids, adults and seniors alike -- but this offering needs a lot more polish to warrant its place in the sun.