Crafting the 'World'

Speed was of the essence when, in 1873, the French novelist Jules Verne penned "Around the World in 80 Days," his breathless tale of adventure travel.

Verne's story is set in motion when Phileas Fogg, a wealthy English bachelor, hears that a newly completed section of railway in India has made it possible to circumnavigate the globe in record time. Convinced he can do precisely that, Fogg bets a large sum with friends at his gentleman's club and embarks on a voyage with Passepartout, his new French valet. As the two engage in a manic race -- setting out from London, with stops in the Middle East, Asia and the U. S. -- they encounter no shortage of detours and barriers.

Baby boomers no doubt have vivid memories of the 1956 film version of this story that starred David Niven and Cantinflas (and included a hot air balloon sequence not in the book). And several years ago Lifeline Theatre conjured a magical stage production, elephant ride and all, in its tiny space. Now, Lookkingglass Theatre, with its history of staging exotic journeys infused with music, movement, circus stunts and more, is issuing a ticket for this global trek. Its production, adapted and directed by Laura Eason, stars Philip R. Smith as Fogg and the fleet and fabulous Kevin Douglas as Passepartout.

Designing the set is the veteran husband-and-wife team of Jacqueline and Richard Penrod. As Jacqueline recently recalled, Eason told them: "Just make something delightful -- something as irresistible as a box of chocolates."

"As it happened, shortly before Laura [Eason] even invited us to design this show, I'd been in London, visiting the British Museum, and had walked through its Enlightenment gallery. That period, from the late 17th to early 19th centuries, was when so much discovery and classification of knowledge was underway. And I was fascinated by all the cabinets there, full of neatly catalogued things that had been collected from those years, including a wonderful astrolabe. I even took photographs. So once Richard and I began working on the show, the museum seemed like a perfect symbol of Fogg -- a man so neat and quirky, who has catalogued all these places, thinks he has figured everything out, but nevertheless ends up faced with so many things that go wrong."

It also helped that Penrod's parents were British-born antiques dealers who collected the campaign-style furniture that was such a hallmark of the British Empire.

"All those foldout pieces you see in movies -- the kind of stuff that made it possible to take all of England with you in a box, no matter how far-flung the expedition -- were designed to make everywhere feel like home," said Penrod.

"The set for '80 Days' is a kind of giant toy ship which we painted rather than stained, because it's not meant to feel entirely real. We also devised little cubbyholes in which we've stashed iconic pieces for each port -- a mini palm tree for the Suez, a temple for Bombay, a big Chinese lantern for Hong Kong, a miniature Big Ben for London. The idea is to keep things moving fast."

As for how the Penrods (who met at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, have been married for 25 years, and have designed more than 100 shows together) divide the workload: "One or the other of us usually has the 'big idea,' and we build from that," said Jacqueline. "Richard is an excellent draftsman and makes everything work. I do a lot of the painting."