Red Noses
Think the world’s got problems now? In the mid-1300’s, the Black Plague wiped out half the population of Europe. HALF. More conservative estimates say one quarter. But we find HALF gets the point across better. People were dropping like flies, and the living had trouble deciding what to do with themselves. Uncontrollable weeping? Self-flagellation?
For one priest, the answer is clear: make ‘em laugh. Turning a band of desperate misfits into a troupe of deeply untalented circus performers, he sets out to prove that the best defense against a cruel world is a bad joke beautifully told.
““Red Noses” may be one of the best productions of the year so far. Seriously. Director Matt Hawkins is working at the top of his game with a show that easily melds top 40 tunes, real emotion and laughter at the lip’s edge of a grave.”
— Chicago Tribune
“★★★★★ … Barnes’s work feels utterly, surprisingly relevant in this inventive and kinetic staging. Hawkins’s 18-actor production makes great use of both the Strawdog ensemble and vets of the House, Factory, Hypocrites and other storefront stalwarts; it’s possibly the canniest assemblage of Off Loop talent since last year’s Hypocrites Our Town. Punctuated by cheekily co-opted renditions of ’80s tunes by the likes of Billy Joel and the Outfield (credit arranger Mike Przygoda and the self-accompanying cast) and featuring Aly Reneé Greaves’s astute modern-dress costumes, Red Noses is a major achievement for Hawkins … Sarah Goeden delivers mute, wide-eyed brilliance as the good-est spirit of all, while John Ferrick finds unexpected nuance in his lead role as the noble priest. In his inviting, winningly unadorned performance, Flote hopes.”
— Time Out Chicago
“RECOMMENDED … Matt Hawkins has directed Peter Barnes’s 1985 comedy—about a 14th-century French monk who forms a clown troupe during the Black Plague—in the cheerfully manic style of the House Theater of Chicago, of which he’s a founding member … it works freakishly well. Hawkins has stripped things down so that the show becomes a kind of communal happening. He’s also updated the cultural references: the cast occasionally breaks into Reagan-era power ballads, perhaps to underscore the play’s resonance with the AIDS crisis. The result is an exhilarating, hilariously unsettling meditation on the orgiastic response to mass human die-off.”
— Chicago Reader
“What a treat to watch this tight 23-person cast at complete ease with their challenging material, riffing off each other even as the tone constantly shifts from silly to dark to inspirational … It’s rare indeed to find a show packed with gallows humor that doesn’t trivialize death, yet leaves everyone smiling.”
— Chicago Free Press
Cast
Christy Arington
as Flagellant
Paul Fagen*
as Toulon
John Ferrick*
as Flote
Kyle Gibson*
as Player
Sarah Goeden*
as Sonnerie
Carmine Grisolia*
as Rochfort
Kyle Hamman*
as Brodin
Shannon Hoag*
as Marguerite
Paige Hoffman
as Boutros Brother
Allison Latta
as Flagellant
Anderson Lawfer*
as Le Grue
Rob MacLean
as Archbishop Monselet
Marika Mashburn
as Druce
Tom Mondala
as Player
John Moran
as Player
Chelsea Paice
as Player
Michaela Petro*
as Scarron
Eric Pogrelis
as Boutros Brother
Eric Roach
as Grez
Michael E. Smith
as Frapper
Stephen Taylor
as Pope/Master Pestilence
Andrew Trygstad
as Bembo
Justine C. Turner
as Player
Creative Team
Peter Barnes
Author
Matt Hawkins
Director
Nic Dimond
Set Design
Heather Gilbert
Light Design
Aly Renee Amidei*
Costume Design
Mike Przygoda
Music Director
Clare Roche
Stage Manager
* Strawdog Theatre ensemble member