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Spukt

(Stage » Plays)

Theater Oobleck’s productions, for better or worse, often leave one with more questions than answers. Dave Buchen’s latest opus, "Spukt," certainly does not disappoint in this respect--the play centers around Napoleon, and the forty-plus days of chaos and debauchery that follow his death by poisoning, cunningly orchestrated by his wife. Or was it his son? The amnesiac prime minister? Or the other son? Perhaps the gypsy? The doppelganger? The tambourine-playing dancing bear? Maybe the three-piece band in the corner knows something we don’t. But it’s the questions, the not-quite-knowing, that make this play so much fun to watch; it is blissful confusion. Sometimes heavy-handed political commentary draws obvious parallels to our current administration, but just as we start to feel bogged down with rhetoric, the band strikes up a tune, someone bursts into song, or reports of zombie soldiers rising from the dirt to march into battle challenge anyone who may think they have this show "figured out." Guy Massey (last seen with Oobleck as George W. Bush in "The Strangerer"), is particularly hilarious as the "unknowing solider." It’s an exquisitely bizarre ride that’s sure to leave you enthusiastically scratching your head and wanting more.

- Valerie Jean Johnson

Thursdays at 8pm, Fridays at 8pm and Saturdays at 8pm
Ends Saturday, December 22

The Viaduct
3111 N. Western
Chicago [map]
(773)296-6024

$12

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