To close out their fourth season,
Dark and Stormy Productions once again brings us an anti-holiday selection. Except that this one takes place in winter in Minnesota, so it's pretty holiday appropriate, even if it is about two women who hire two Norwegian gangsters to kill their exes. Austin-based playwright
C. Denby Swanson was inspired by her time in Minnesota at the
Playwrights' Center* to write this darkly funny play that pokes fun at all things Minnesota in a fun-loving way.
The Norwegians is a cross between a
Prairie Home Companion sketch and an episode of
Fargo, with more edge than the former but without the latter's ominous cloud of despair. Director Joel Sass and his dynamic and dynamite four-person cast bring this wacky story to life in an intimate setting, providing a truly entertaining 90 minutes (no intermission!) of theater. And as if all this wasn't enough to make me love the play, any mention of the
1991 World Series Champion Minnesota Twins (or 1987 of course) is a surefire way into my heart!
