GEEK N OUT REVIEW
“Conspiracy”
Reviewer: Robert Southgate
Photo by Rebecca Shrom
Photo by Ashley Connell
Conspiracy is a comedy sketch show by the comedy duo Coyne and Spears. Before the show begins, the actors set the tone improvising with each other while engaging with the audience. They are agents of a corporation that is obviously involved in conspiratorial shenanigans. The set is stark with white lights, giving the audience the sense of being in an interrogation room. The cast is dressed in black and white suits with thin ties and dark sunglasses, reminiscent of Men in Black. I loved the creative staging throughout and how director Ashley Connell established a theater in the round. I found myself completely engaged and drawn into their world. The whole cast did a great job yet there were a few standouts. Michael Coyne as the wiretap agent was hilarious. Tommy Spears’ scene involving the thimble was so cool! And Lauren Kincaid was exceptional throughout.
Coyne and Spears are the same team that wrote Highstreet and Mook (see my review from December 2018). I loved that show and fully expected to love this even more. This show is about conspiracies, something I am really into. Both shows are wildly creative and genuinely funny. They both highlight the talents of their casts and demonstrate the versatility of the actors. In many ways, Conspiracy is an evolution for Coyne and Spears yet I find it more of a step sideways than a leap forward. It may be that my expectations were off. The name of the show is “Conspiracy” which led me to believe I was in for 90 minutes or so of a really funny deconstruction of various conspiracy theories. What I saw was closer to a Second Cityversion of “Conspiracy,” which of course is not a bad thing. Second Citytypically has a topic but will only have a few scenes that feature the topic. This is how Conspiracywas structured. The core of the show was conspiracy based with several scenes involving conspiracies peppered with random scenes that were funny but felt out of place. Conspiracywas best when it took the theme and skewered it fully: e.g. the JFK sketch, the poetry improv, and the wiretap interludes were all exceptional.
I would love to see another run of Conspiracythat is more focused on the topic. I would be down for a series of Conspiracyshows, as there is so much material to play with. And please, include UFOs, Black Eyed Kids and Inter-dimensional Big Foot!
Photo by Ashley Connell
If you are a fan of improv, comedies, and conspiracies, go see this show! It’s totally worth your time.
Cast:
Robby Appleton, Michael Coyne, Leah Judge, Lauren Kincaid, Tommy Spears, and Alice Walker
Creatives:
Writers – Michael Coyne, Squeek Ragnell, and Tommy Spears
Director – Ashley Connell
Technical Design – Joseph Heyman
Performances will take place in Otherworld’s black box theater, “The Alchemists Lab”, Final performances, Thursday July 25that 10pm and Thursday August 1stat 10pm. Tickets are pay-what-you-can.
Otherworld Theatre is located at 3914 N Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60613 (Street Parking available; CTA Accessible by Sheridan Red Line / 22 Clark). Performances are approximately 100 minutes with intermission.
Otherworld Theatre is a two-stage facility with a main stage that boasts a flexible performance and seating area in its larger The Bradbury space, The Alchemist’s Lab black box space, bar, and lobby located a few blocks north of Wrigley Field. Tickets to all shows are available at www.OtherworldTheatre.org Otherworld maintains mission to keep theatre accessible for all. All main stage tickets are pay-what-you-can, allowing people of any and all means to experience live performance. Otherworld targets theatre patrons of all ages, genders, and races, with a particular focus on fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy, or "genre" storytelling. This is a large, underserved market, particularly when it comes to live theatre. Otherworld’s productions reach a wide ranging audience and multiple fandoms.
Photo by Rebecca Shrom