'Holes' gets kids thinking with humor, suspense

Don't confuse the Green Lake in Louis Sachar's play "Holes" with the Green Lake in Seattle.

The latter is a pretty neighborhood park, with a body of water. The former is the name of a juvenile detention camp set in a bleak Texas desert, where the lake has dried up after decades of drought.

Bring local kids to see the world premiere of "Holes" at Seattle Children's Theatre and they'll probably know a lot about Camp Green Lake already.

Sachar's popular book version of "Holes" was assigned to thousands of young readers in King County recently as part of the "What if All Kids Read the Same Book?" project.

But even if a child knows what happens next in this eventful yarn about a boy mistakenly sentenced to Camp Green Lake, it surely won't wreck the charm, humor or even suspense of Sachar's engaging play.

It is the unlucky Stanley Yelnats who gets shipped off to Camp Green Lake, after being falsely accused of stealing a valuable pair of celebrity athletic shoes.

Amiably portrayed by MJ Sieber, the easygoing, somewhat inept Stanley gets thrown in with a tough bunch of adolescent boys forced to spend their days digging large holes in the crusty, baked earth. Why? Because, allegedly, it "builds character."

Stanley's character matures, all right — but not because the nasty crew foreman Mr. Sir (David Drummond), the smarmy counselor Mr. Pendanski or the evil female warden (played by understudy Amy Thone, in Marianne Owen's absence) are good mentors.

What life lessons Stanley acquires come from having to find his place in a pecking order of young offenders, with the commanding X-Ray (Reginald Andre Jackson) on top and the illiterate, homeless Zero (Darragh Kennan) at the bottom.

As in the film "Cool Hand Luke," the boys connive to outsmart their corrupt authority figures, sometimes at one another's expense. But the show is enriched with another storyline, too, about Stanley's ancestors and a supposed curse that dooms the Yelnats clan to misfortune.

Maybe there's a curse, maybe not. But the zesty flashbacks to Stanley's great-great-grandfather in Latvia (Eric Ray Anderson) singing to his pig and the exploits of the legendary Old West outlaw Kissin' Kate Barlow (Julie Briskman) add colorful clues and historical dimension to the plot.

"Holes" also combines a search for lost treasure, with painful glimpses of bigotry, and a giddy good humor that never deserts the unlikely hero, Stanley.

Running two hours, "Holes" drags a bit late in Act 1. But mostly it's briskly paced under Linda Hartzell's sure direction — especially in the action-packed Act 2. And Carey Wong's set is a marvel: a jigsaw puzzle of holes that gape and disappear as needed.

Some instances of overt violence are jarring, including two abrupt, fatal shootings.

And there's a lot of bullying, funny and serious, by both adults and kids. Which is part of Suchar's point: He doesn't tell kids what to think about things. But he gets them thinking.

Misha Berson can be reached at mberson@seattletimes.com.