The first thought to cross your mind when you enter the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Thompson Shelterhouse Theatre for David Bar Katz’s The History of Invlunerability, a story about Superman and his comic book creator, might sound like an amusing, nostalgic show.
The lights come up on Superman. Handsome actor Steve Wilson has that confident "I’m in charge" look you expect from the Man of Steel. Superman explains that his “real” parents were Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the comic-book writer and artist who conceived him in the mid-1930s and sold the idea to DC Comics, which first published stories of the superhero in 1938.
With that, Siegel steps onstage, enacted by David Deblinger, a bespectacled, nebbishy schmuck who fans of Woody Allen will readily recognize. we’re inside Siegel’s anxious head, where the fantastic stories of Superman swirl with moments of Siegel’s own life and tales of Jews at Auschwitz during World War II.
Publicity for this show carries a warning about material “suitable for adult audiences only.” There is violence that’s hard to watch, bits of bad language and some references to sex, but The History of Invulnerability is more than merely “suitable.” Bar Katz has X-ray vision to see into the human soul, and his powerful play should be required viewing.
At Playhouse in the Park through May 2. Get showtimes, buy tickets and read Rick Pender's full review here. Read his interview with playwright David Bar Katz here.
