Synetic Theater offers a different kind of magic from the kind they provide in their “wordless” productions in their current production of “Don Quixote.” Yet even though this play has a text, its success still depends on the things Synetic does so well: mime, movement and physical transformation. “Don Quixote” is Paata Tsikurishvili’s adaptation of a play by Roland Reed, which in turn is based on Miguel de Cervantes’ novel. Don Quixote is still an aristocrat, Alonzo Quexana, whose habit of reading chivalric novels primes his imagination, inspiring him to leave the world of reason and set out to change the world for the better.

Although “Don Quixote” is set in the past, Tsikurishvili emphasizes its timelessness. The play begins with Quexana/Quixote (Dan Istrate) inspecting his beloved books. As he opens one, the evil spirit Freston (Alex Mills), appears. Quixote understands that he must ride abroad with his faithful squire, Sancho Panza (Ryan Sellers), becoming a knight errant and achieving his ambition: ending cruelty and selfishness wherever he finds them.