'The Nature Crown' has its inventive premiere at the Guthrie

A patron sneezed early into Saturday evening's opening performance of "The Nature Crown" at the Guthrie Theater studio. Actor Diogo Lopes, who plays lead character Joao, was so in the moment, he said, without missing a beat, "Bless you." The audience erupted in laughter.

"Crown," now up in a premiere by Theatre Forever, is charmingly appealing. A devised work co-created by director Jon Ferguson and his plucky 16-member ensemble of actors, the show keeps you smiling from the moment the actors walk onto the bare stage and begin to sketch a world. They use minimal props and their adaptable bodies to take us into flights of fancy.

With all this comic and creative invention, it's too bad that the stakes are not higher. The metaphorical world of this one-act is one of jolly villagers whose bad deeds are not that dastardly, and, besides, they can be easily reversed.

The story, scripted by playwright Dominic Orlando, centers on a contemporary worker bee who gets fired. After his dismissal, Joao takes a walk that brings him into a forest realm where a pair of men transform themselves into rocks and trees and clouds. There's a village near the forest where denizens gather for their once-in-a-century celebration. These people, who carry their little houses with them, view Joao as a Christ-like portent of doom.

Joao's fever dream is populated by his real-world wife (played by Adelin Phelps), a king and queen (Brant Miller and Catherine Johnson Justice) and by Nature (Aimee K Bryant). The cast also includes Cyril the Rambler (Peter Lincoln Rusk), royal henchman Rupert (Tony Sarnicki) and Wild Boy (Lorenzo Reyes).

Theatre Forever is part of an exciting ecology of smaller Twin Cities outfits that do devised works, including Live Action Set ("The 7-Shot Symphony") and Transatlantic Love Affair ("Ash Land" and "Ballad of the Pale Fisherman"). In fact, charismatic actor Lopes is a founder of Transatlantic Love Affair, where Phelps also worked extensively. Miller is a standout with Four Humors, which has adapted classic texts such as "Lolita" with irreverent gusto.

These companies work over long periods to create stories in an inventive theatrical language. "Crown" is a case in point. Its prodigious creativity is on view within the first few minutes as Joao enters with just a keyboard, walking to his office. He is attended by someone holding a light, a small chair and other things that he'll need. They move with him, like wings on a bird. This delightful choreography extends throughout "Crown," which features live scoring by ensemble musicians and the Artemis Chamber Choir.

If it's easy to fall in love with the physically engaged telling of "Crown," it's partly because we've seen such creativity writ larger by the likes of Julie Taymor, Mary Zimmerman and George Wolfe.

But after leaving the theater, smile still wide, you say to yourself: Yes, "Crown" is engaging. But, with a stronger, more engaging narrative, it could have been so much more.

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390