Biting and Delightful Duck Soup

The Conspirators latest offering Duck Soup is a remarkable and timely adaptation of the Marx Brothers classic Duck Soup  film  which satirizes political authoritarianism and skewers nationalism. The film premiered in 1933 at the start of the march to World War 2 and I suspect that this ensemble is using The Style to call attention to the current rise to fascism.

Historical note: Mussolini banned the original film in Italy because he thought it was a personal attack.

Sid Feldman, who adapted the screenplay, remained faithful to the original, and that restraint with period costumes by Ollie Voirin makes the characters instantly referential to the film. As an audience member who LOVES the movie, this rendition overlaid my current dread and despair over what is currently happening with a thick layer of nostalgia: because growing up in what was a democracy allowed my younger self to think this story was really funny.

Director Wm.Bullion still makes us laugh, but in that dark tragic way that is the nature of clown. This show is not as overwrought as it could be because wisely Bullion lets it stand on its own, with the white face and mask which are part of The Style making the cast a kind of puppets in the game. The Style, initially created by the Actor’s Gang and New Crime Productions is a mashup of Commedia dell’Arte with Kabuki, Bugs Bunny and high energy punk. Here white face and presentational mannerisms are iconic, but this show has a more subtle and insidious portrayal at its heart.  We are all laughing outside and beginning to cry inside because this show looks too much like the social media feed from our government. 

Hayden Hartrick as Gloria Teasdale is spot on. Mitchell Jackson as Rufus T Firefly personifies ridiculous presidency and strikes way too close to home. If you have not seen the original movie, you will head home after the show and watch and see how good this cast is. This is a play for our times.  See it and weep.

The Conspirators Duck Soup is playing Thursdays through Sundays at the new Stars and Garters club at 3914 N. Clark Street in Chicago. For tickets and information go to https://conspirewithus.org/

 No part of this review was created using AI

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