By Michele Markarian
Shipwrecked! An Entertainment – Written by Donald Marguiles. Directed by Allison Olivia Choat. Presented by Moonbox Productions, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA through December 29.
“Welcome to this temple of imagination…” begins Mssr. Louis de Rougemont (Kevin Cirone), as he prepares to tell us his life story. A sickly child, Louis is kept in bed 24/7 by his doting, scone-baking mother (Charlotte Kinder), who reads books of adventure to her son every day. He sneaks outdoors at the age of sixteen, and upon feeling the sun on his face for the first time, decides to have some adventures of his own by running off to London. His reluctant mother gives him her life’s savings, which is stolen his first night in the city. By chance, Louis meets Captain Jensen (Arthur Gomez) who, as captain of the aptly named Wonder World, takes him on as crew for a pearl-seeking expedition. Louis befriends a dog, Bruno (Sarah Gazdowicz), is marooned on a seemingly deserted island, meets three displaced natives, marries one of them, Yamba (Luz Lopez) and has two daughters before returning home to England via Australia. Despite not having seen her son for thirty years, Louis’s mother recognizes him, and encourages him to tell his tale to the world, which he does.
