Run in collaboration with Northwestern University, Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Next Up program gives a few lucky MFA candidates the chance to stage a show with a professional cast and the imprimatur of one of the bigger fish in America’s theatrical pond. I hope the kids get some useful lessons from the experience—but even if they don’t, wow, you can’t beat Steppenwolf for a resume credit.
The really insufferable aspect of The Drunken City is Bock’s energetic attempt to draw comedy from stupidity. These folks have that contrived denseness that makes you feel vaguely unclean and anxious when you see it on TV.
Or it could be, I don’t know for sure. Director Erin Murray has bitten off more than she can chew, and the result is confused rather than tantalizing. Murray’s crack cast do a marvelous job of spinning out the patois while creating vivid characters, and her set designer, Stephanie Cluggish, pulls off some nice scenic effects. The signs that she’s been overwhelmed are fairly obvious, however, in problems ranging from a failure to find a solid convention for language switches to messy transitions when roles are doubled up. The best you can do is respect her ambition.
Through 6/16: in repertory Tue-Fri 8 PM, Sat 1, 5, and 9 PM, Sun 4 and 8 PM Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Garage Theatre
1624 N. Halsted
312-335-1650
steppenwolf.org
$20, three-play pass $45
