A classic silent film from Mexico plays on the screen, but the theater is far from silent. A pianist provides accompaniment, and real people are on the stage to breathe life into the black-and-white images, by offering commentary, interpretation and acting in the "benshi" tradition from Japan.

Put it all together and you have The Grey Automobile, due to be performed at 8 p.m. Feb. 2 and 3 in Main Theatre in Wright Hall, presented by the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

Fact and fiction about the Grey Car Gang

The Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes production gets its name from the 1919 film El Automóvil Gris, which became one of the longest-running, most-viewed films in Mexican cinematic history, according to a news release from the Mondavi Center.

The film recounts the exploits and subsequent capture of the Grey Car Gang, a band of thieves who terrorized Mexico City during the chaos of the Mexican Revolution. The news release describes the film as "a curious mixture of fact, fiction and political intrigue," and notes that filming took place largely at the actual locations of the gang's crimes, often featuring real-life victims portraying themselves.

Director Claudio Valdés Kuri's modern staging adds three benshis, one Japanese, one Mexican and one English-speaking, to portray the voices and emotions of more than 50 characters. According to the Mondavi Center, benshi arose at the end of the 19th century, when Japanese audiences first encountered cinema; they were accustomed at the time to the sophisticated storytelling of Japanese theater, and the benshis helped the audiences understand unfamiliar cultural references in films.

A preperformance lecture is scheduled at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 in Main Theatre, with Fred Dobb, a San Francisco State University lecturer and a director with Federico Films. Post-performance question-and-answer sessions are planned after each night's program.

SNEAK PREVIEW:

www.mondaviarts.org/events/event.cfm?event_id=311 (click on “video clips”).