Red Noses
At the Strawdog Theatre
By Dan Zeff
CHICAGO—In 1985, English dramatist Peter Barnes premiered a historical play called “Red Noses” about a troupe of amateur comedians who tried to bring laughter to plague-ravaged western Europe during the mid 1300’s. The play has established itself in the international repertoire but it likely never got the personal and resourceful treatment “Red Noses” is receiving at the Strawdog Theatre.
Like the play, the Strawdog staging mixes vaudeville, satire, broad comedy, music, and serious drama. But under the risk-taking directing of Matt Hawkins, “Red Noses” becomes a tour de force (and tour de farce) of theatrical vitality, creativity, and playfulness that segways into stirring and thought-provoking drama without striking g a false note.
Hawkins has assembled a massive cast of 23 performers, most of them young members of the Strawdog company, and he’s also borrowed from such “second tier” theaters as the Hypocrites, Factory, and House. If ever a production validated the depth of talent at the storefront level in Chicago’s theater community, it’s “Red Noses” under Hawkins’s wizard guidance.
At the beginning of the play, an itinerant priest named Father Flote decides that he can combat the horrors of the bubonic plague with comedy. So he assembles a collection of misfits who wear false red noses as their badge. They travel into the French countryside, performing comic plays to give succor to the afflicted.
Pope Clement VI is agreeable to Father Flote’s merry comedians as a distraction to the devastation of the plague. But once the disease runs its course, the pope demands that the father disband his company. With the emergency over, the church returns to requiring “submission and belief” from its followers. The papacy doesn’t need free and independent spirits like Father Flote to challenge church authority.
That’s the skeleton of Barnes’s plot that Hawkins uses as a blueprint for his bold and vibrant staging. Hawkins removes the historical medieval element by presenting the characters in modern, grungy costumes (some witty and bizarre combinations by designer Aly Renee Greaves). The Barnes original calls for musical interpolations and Hawkins and music director Mike Przygoda settle on pop-rock songs of the 1980’s, sung by the ensemble in various combinations, many performers playing musical instruments on stage.
The Strawdog playing area is a little larger than a suburban residential patio, but Hawkins uses the stage skillfully, shifting his large ensemble on and off and around the stage to give the action great energy. Heather Gilbert’s dramatic lighting is a big help.
Barnes, who died in 2004, obviously was no great admirer of organized religion. The church in “Red Noses” is tyrannical, self-serving, and corrupt. The pope, played with droll street smarts by Stephen Taylor, has no time for faith and spirituality. He has a church to run and his concern lies with power and obedience. He roots out cults and sects who might interfere, however unintentionally, with the church’s power over its people. When Father Flote and his comedians don’t submit, they are destroyed. The pope bears them no hard feelings, but business is business.
John Ferrick is superb as Father Flote, an ingenuous, compassionate man and a born leader in a time of crisis when the actual church leaders run for cover. Flote’s motley group of entertainers are all wonderfully realized on the Strawdog stage. I particularly liked Anderson Lawfer, who looks and acts like Robin Williams, as a brash blind juggler. Eric Roach is first rate as an exuberant Jerry Fallwell type leader of a group of flagellants who see self-inflicted pain as the only response to the plague.
Carmine Grisolia is very strong as a warrior who joins Father Flote’s troupe and then realizes his true vocation is a hired sword for the pope. Paul Fagen is fine as Father Toulon, a clerical spy the pope inserts into Flote’s company. Under Flote’s influence, Toulon converts from doctrinaire priest to a true believer in Flote’s cause, and he pays the price. There is a haunting character called Master Bells, who expresses herself through the sound of bells. She’s played with fetching charm by Sarah Goeden,
Every member of the ensembles carries his or her acting weight, several performers doubling and tripling in roles. They blend seamlessly into a coherent production that skips from Monty Python to Martin and Lewis to tragedy. What could have been silly and self indulgent in less disciplined hands turns out to be invigorating, funny, and ultimately moving.
The production cuts about 30 minutes from the Barnes script, trimming a show that originally ran an excessive almost three hours to a just-right 2 hours and 15 minutes without diminishing the original’s narrative points. All in all, a most enjoyable and even instructive evening and a tribute to a large group of enthusiastic and talented people on the stage and behind the scenes.
“Red Noses” runs through May 23 at the Strawdog Theatre, 3829 North Broadway. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20. Call 773 528 9696 or visit www.strawdog.org.
The show gets a rating of four stars. April 2009
Contact Dan at zeffdaniel@yahoo.com