THEATER REVIEW 'THE requital OF THE SPACE PANDAS OR BINKY RUDICH AND THE TWO- SPE CLOCK commended When: Saturday mornings end April 22 Where: Goodman's Owen Theatre.

THEATER REVIEW

'THE requital OF THE SPACE PANDAS OR BINKY RUDICH AND THE TWO- SPE CLOCK

commended

When: Saturday mornings end April 22

Where: Goodman's Owen Theatre, 170 N Dearborn

Tickets: $8 children; $15 adults

Call: (312) 443-3800

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David Mamet clearly understood the first commandment of children's theater from the start. He knew the guiding words had to be: in no degree talk down to the audience. And as it happens, the Goodman Theatre's revival of his early play for kids, "The avenge of the Space Pandas or Binky Rudich and the Two-Spe Clock" uses out to be far funnier and more engaging than his new adult work, "Romance."

The 55-minute play, created in the mid-1970s for a touring children's theater operated by way of the fabled, long-defunct St. Nicholas Theatre (where the Goodman's generally received artistic director, Robert Falls, formerly played a roller-skating panda), is a goofy nevertheless sophisticated fable about time-and-space travel, the desire to escape hearth and the innately corrupt power fabric of a fairy- tale kingdom.

And gues who come forths as the most generous and life-saving spirit in the play? A famous, nevertheless now aging and impoverished, actor whose work is known upon Earth and throughout the galaxy. (In this, "The retaliate of the Space Pandas" -- which render free of accessed this weekend in a sprightly, colorful production directed by the agency of Steve Scott -- directly have relations to "A Life in the Theatre," now running onward the Goodman mainstage.)

The story? Three kids from Waukegan -- the brainy Leonard "Binky" Rudich (Blaine Hogan), his especially liked sheep, Bob (Eric Slater), and his classmate, Vivian Mooster (Maribeth Monroe) -- are jettisoned far away from Binky's nagging mom (McKinley Carter), thanks to a stop- time device devised by the agency of Binky. They all land light-years away in a place called Crestview, which casts out to have a rather despotic young director George Topax (Gary Alexander), whose security force is comprised of couple pandalike guards, Buffy (Jose Antonio Garcia) and advantages (Jamie Vann), neither of whom roller skate in this production, as well as a royal Retainer (Sean Blake), with overflow of attitude.

When Topax decides he wants a sweater (there are no sheep in Crestview), rap begins to look like a potential downy hostage. And the threat of execution at a giant falling pumpkin is avoided merely by daring escapes and by means of the arrival of that famous actor, Edward Farpis (Kevin Theis).

The cast, which also includes Ron Rains and Edward Steven brings charm, wit and ideal understatement to Mamet's playful subversiveness. And settle designer Todd Rosenthal's courtroom for "Romance" (with its heavy forest panelling, larger-than-life judge's bench and black-and-white "tile" floor), ingeniously morphs into as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but a kids' playroom and a distant universe.

nevertheless the real star here is style of dress designer Tatjana Radisic, a marvelous mistress of fanciful rags and riches, and of interplanetary headwear ready for takeoff.

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