Zany mayhem blasts off with Piccolo’s panto

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“Space Wars: The Panto!” at Piccolo Theatre features (clockwise from front), Cassandra Quinn, Kirk Osgood, Ben Muller and Berner Taylor.

Updated: January 23, 2012 4:33AM

The panto is a British-style entertainment especially popular around the Christmas holidays, but the loopy humor that is a hallmark of this theatrical format has connected with theatergoers far beyond the United Kingdom: outer space, to be precise.

Evanston’s Piccolo Theatre again is delighting its audiences with this unique diversion in the premiere of “Space Wars: The Panto!” by artistic associate Jessica Puller. Nicole Keating directs a well-tuned, unbridled 13-member cast in a zany show that appeals to young and old.

Two previous pantos by Puller — “Perseus and Medusa: It’s All Greek to Me” and “Robin Hood” — graced Piccolo’s stage in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Puller’s latest farcical adventure pokes fun at the science fiction genre.

Its plot has all the requisite elements for panto: a hero (a young man played by a woman), in this case a lad named Mark Sleepwalker, (Berner Taylor in the part), who falls in love with a beautiful princess (Ha-El). To win her hand, Mark must demonstrate worthiness as a champion by dethroning the evil Queen Livia and subduing her bedeviled son, Fenton. Mark’s task is to retrieve the long-missing helmet of the legendary Lone Spaceman.

“Space Wars” offers a lot of laugh-inducing slapstick humor and double entendres, mistaken identities, cross-dressing and messy battles, including an obligatory scene during which buckets of creamy white goo are tossed with abandon.

An intergalactic skirmish is cleverly presented using glow-in-the-dark miniature spacecraft and weaponry manipulated by unseen hands. Meanwhile, projected images interspersed throughout the panto, such as Mark’s “My.Space Book Page,” add to the hilarity. Taylor (who last appeared at Piccolo in “Comedy of Errors”) excels as the venturesome hero, Mark, who must overthrow Lauren Goods, the villainous ruler in order to win the hand of Sarah Mayhan, the princess.

Other hard-working performers include Andrew Puckett, as Mark’s flamboyant mother Susie Sleepwalker, who harbors a closely guarded fammily secret; Adrian Garcia, as Livia’s repressed Darth Vader-like son; Ben Muller as Ambassador Swoozer, a Star Trekian, Spock-like character; and Kate Black, as D.O.P.E., a digital stand-in for Princess Ha-El).

Other Piccolo stalwarts here include Joe Bianco, Yael Wartens, Cassandra Quinn, Kirk Osgood, Jared McDaris and Audrey Bertaux-Skeirik.

Special mention to Joshua Allard and Ana Prillaman, whose other-worldly costumes and scenic design, respectively, help put “Space Wars” in orbit.

It’s a wild ride, and audience participation is encouraged, with cheers or boos expected whenever the key hero or villain comes onstage.