Mishap!
Written by Bjarni Jónsson
Translated by Hilmar Ramos
Directed by Chad Eric Bergman
at Side Project Theatre, 1439 W. Jarvis (map)
thru March 23 | tickets: $15-$20 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
Read review
Brisk, dark comedy satirizes surveillance
Akvavit Theatre presents
Mishap!
Review by Keith Glab
With this staging of Mishap!, a short satire by Icelandic playwright Bjarni Jónsson, Chicago’s premier Nordic theater company completes its cycle of plays from the five principal Nordic countries. Akvavit Theatre’s previous full productions have included works from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden; they share a common trait of embracing dark humor. While this current offering pushes that trait even further, it marks a departure from the methodical, pause-laden stagings of Akvavit’s previous fare. Chad Eric Bergman directs a fast-paced thriller in which television and reality overlap in The Side Project’s intimate space.
Jóhanna (Bergen Anderson) and Halldór (Matthew Isler) are a depressed married couple dealing with a tragedy involving Jóhanna’s daughter from a previous partner. Jóhanna openly cheats with Daníel (Joshua Harris), a drunken psychiatrist who is friends with Halldór. These three work on constructing a sign for Jóhanna’s protest of an upcoming teacher’s union strike that threatens to put some 50,000 students out of the classroom.
All the while, a reporter (Sarah Nelson) and two cheesy cooking show hosts (Breahan Eve Pautsch and Joe Giovannetti) cover not only the protest, but the intimate details of the couple’s relationship. In the early moments of the play, there’s some division between the cooking show taking place upstage and the domestic scenes downstage. Before long the lines become blurred and the television personnel address not only the audience, but Jóhanna, Halldór, and Daníel as well, imploring them to recount the mishap that precipitated their sullen state. Towards the play’s climax, we find that the TV folks have something of a love triangle going themselves, and everyone sits down to dinner together in a fully integrated scene.
The cast, which is comprised almost exclusively of Akvavit company members, works extremely well with each other. Overlapping dialog and sharp comic timing punctuate this whirlwind satire in which people accept the surveillance of their lives as an everyday occurrence. This play first opened in 2007; the increased prevalence of people voluntarily broadcasting their personal lives via social media, reality television, and daytime talk shows since then makes Jónsson’s satirical world seem less absurd and more relevant than it perhaps did seven years ago.
This hour-long comedic romp comes to an abruptly dark conclusion for the characters. It’s not entirely clear how this conclusion relates to the themes of surveillance established throughout the piece. Mishap! might be one of the few theatrical experiences you leave wishing it had gone on longer to expound on the many relationships and themes it generates. Perhaps it’s fitting that on the completion of their Nordic Cycle, Akvavit Theatre leaves us wanting more.
Rating: ★★★
Mishap! continues through March 23rd at Side Project Theatre, 1439 W. Jarvis (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays 3pm. Tickets are $15-$20, and are available online through BrownPaperTickets.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at AkvavitTheatre.org. (Running time: 65 minutes, no intermission)
Photos by Sooz Main
artists
cast
Bergen Anderson (Jóhanna), Kirstin Franklin (Protestor 2), Joe Giovannetti (Sven), Joshua Harris (Daníel), Matthew Isler (Halldór), Mark Litwicki (Protestor 1), Sarah Nelson (Reporter), Breahan Eve Pautsch (Brynja)
behind the scenes
Chad Eric Bergman (director, set design), Wm. Bullion (asst. director, American edits), Catherine Connelly (stage manager), Maggie Fullilove-Nugent (lighting), Christina Marcantonio (costumes), Antonio M. Gracias (sound design), Kirstin Franklin and Mark Litwicki (props), Alan Wuesthoff (technical director), Sooz Main (photos)
14-0237
