BY CAROL FURTWANGLER
Post and Courier Reviewer


     "Lean forward and duck" were the instructions given the audience by the producers of the tiniest of the new Piccolo Fringe series at Theatre 99.
     That's what the capacity crowd of 25 adventurous souls did in order to witness the Tiny Ninja Theatre production of "Macbeth."
     Arranging the playgoers in front of a stage the size of a briefcase and passing out "opera glasses" -- miniature plastic binoculars -- director Dov (Bear in Hebrew) Weinstein began speaking a masterfully edited script of Shakespeare's classic tale.
     While Weinstein renders the dialogue, with expert tone and diction, he moves about the stage a series of tiny ninjas -- yes, the tiny plastic ones found in vending machines.
     Macbeth is, as befits the title character, a plastic figure with a large (well, relatively) head sporting a smiley face. Lady Macbeth is likewise, but of course she has flowers in her hair.
     Using to-the-shoulder black gloves, like many puppeteers, Weinstein moves the figures with his artist's hands, but can also mobilize his characters via a system of magnets so that they seem to moving independently.
     This production has all the elements of genuine theater, from costumes (Macbeth dons a wee plaid strip before he goes into battle) to lighting effects (operated by the director's toes) to props (swords, plastic fruit on the banquet table).
     Sound effects -- convincingly provided, you got it, by Weinstein -- range from horses' hooves clopping to an eerie wind blowing.
     Cleverness abounds. When Weinstein booms out the Bard's immortal words, "Stars! Hide your fire," out go the lights. When poor, beleaguered Macbeth cries out, "Is this a dagger I see before me?", here comes a ninja-sized dagger, hanging by a thread off a long stick.
     Group scenes are pre-glued; when they need to disappear, Weinstein simply picks them up and throws them offstage. This makes for easy exeunts, so the show moves along at a brisk pace, lasting a total of 35 minutes.
     Children are most welcome, and can sprawl on the floor inches from the magic Weinstein creates. While the violence inherent in the play is not censored, somehow when thumb-high ninjas are doing it, it does not terrify.
     Weinstein is altogether true to his stated principal which is, of course, "There are no small parts, only small actors."
     Any description, however, is doomed to fail to convey the dramatic validity of this weird and, I trust I can accurately say, unique production. It resembles nothing so much as a kid who entertains himself in his room at night by creating and implementing characters and a story line.
     But Weinstein has developed a presentation that is so fully realized, so artfully conceived, so wonderfully inventive that one cannot help but become a willing participant in the suspension of disbelief.
     The show will be presented at 2 and 10 p.m. today; at noon Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; and at 1 and 3 p.m. Friday.