All in the timing

In my positive review of the Factory Theater's Ren Faire! A Fistful of Ducats in last week's issue of TOC, I said this:

Among the many things first-time playwright [Matt] Engle gets right is one that the Factory rarely does: He keeps it short. At a trim 90 minutes, Ren Faire! seems under tighter control than the company’s beer-fueled, often bloated antics can be…

In the comments for the online version of the review, one "Sir Lord Baltimore" calls me out, saying, "95% of all of the Factory's shows are UNDER 90 minutes...just to keep it real..."

Now of the 11 shows the Factory has opened since TOC launched three and a half years ago, Ren Faire! is the sixth that I've reviewed, and at the time I was writing about it two weeks ago it certainly felt shorter than many of the rest. But since TOC lists running times for reviewed shows, I was able to go back and fact-check myself, and Sir Lord Baltimore has got me. Of those six shows, only one has come in above an hour and a half—at a hefty 1:40.

I don't know why Ren Faire! seemed tighter to me than some of those other Factory shows. I generally dig the Factory aesthetic, but even in other positive reviews I've noted that the shows felt overstuffed. Could be this is the first one that seemed to be exactly the length it needed to be. But I'll cop to being wrong on the facts.

Go see Ren Faire!, playing through August 2nd. It's great stuff. And while I've got the Factory's attention, let's consider this the beginning of my subversive campaign to see Toast of the Town remounted. (Engle includes a very subtle callback to that 2005 play in the current one.)

At TOC today, four new reviews—strangely enough all of which are playing on the same half-mile stretch of Broadway.

Comments

[Factory Fan!]

Kris, your review of Ren Faire was DEAD ON. It was tight and smooth and some of the Factory's finest work. Ren Faire showcases what they do best without bloating the piece with "bits" that are ultimately in there for the enjoyment of the cast and/or director, not the audience. If you have the chance, I recommend going back and seeing their 'third shift' late night show, Shameless Shamuses. Short and hilarious, the cast tears through this one at breakneck speed.

[Dan]

I gotta second that emotion on Shameless Shamuses. I saw it on their second night by following the trail of fire Eric Roach leaves as he rockets out of Laughter on the 23rd Floor (curtain down, 10pm at Granville and Clark) and onto the Factory stage (curtain up, 10:30pm at Elston and Irving Park). Shamuses is essentially a modern day Marx Brothers piece: a 35 minutes laugh-and-sweat-fest that is right in the Factory's wheelhouse. Sure, not everything lands - but sheer charisma will get you through the 2.5 seconds to the next joke.

[Mark Jeffries]

I suspect the reason that "Ren Faire!" doesn't contain the extraneous schtick that often bogs down Factory shows (including, I hope, that annoying fake laughter starting every scene--I haven't seen the show yet) is because they got a relative outsider, Strawdog's Kyle Hamman, to direct the show. It sometimes makes a difference when you have someone who isn't one of the boys who won't put up with the insidery stuff (and there have been times when the loudest laughter in Factory audiences is the director in the back and the stage manager being human laugh tracks at the in-jokes).

Now I admit that I preferred the Factory back in their Loyola/Clark St. days when Sean Abley and Amy Seeley were running things and the company was not oppressively alpha male like it often seems to be today, but I realize we all have to move on.

[Eric Roach]

Mark, please see Ren Faire before you start commenting willy nilly all over the internet about it. Miss Justine Turner, Miss Jennifer Pompa, Miss Chelsea Paice, and Miss Sarah Rose Graber turn in FANTASTIC performances. Our last show - Ceres - was written and directed by women. Shameless Shamuses was directed by Miss Laura Mckenzie and she DOMINATED that show.

Things ARE changing, and for the better. You know, I've been a proud Factory ensemble member for 3 years now and have seen this company do a complete 180 from the "alpha male" environment that you seem to think still exists. We are getting back to our roots, we have the funniest and most talented women in Chicago, and we'll keep doing this damn thing until they burn us down. And then we'll STILL do it.

Oh, and by the way, fake laughing, as long as it's done right, is fucking hilarious.

[Mark Jeffries]

Fair enough, Eric--and I think Laura MacKenzie's one of the funniest women in town. It just seems like the last few times I saw her at Factory, she was being held back. I am planning to see both of your shows and am willing to be very pleased.

[Kris Vire]

The last time I saw Laura at Factory, she was playing the title role in a show she wrote. Doesn't sound very held back to me.

I'm hoping to see Ren Faire again, and if I do I'll definitely stay for Shamuses.