THE LAST SHOW of Renaissance Theaterworks‘ current season is a thrilling, anxiety-inducing, funny, entertaining, charming play called Tidy. The production is part of World Premiere Wisconsin, a festival that celebrates new work premiering throughout the state. Here are three reasons to check out the show while it’s still running through April 16:
1. The Witty Writing
You know this show is going to be funny from the first line – at least at my showing, the whole crowd laughed. The play opens with our protagonist, The Detective, explaining that she is trying to find happiness by following the tips in Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. “I read a book about how to be happy, and it was really a book about cleaning your house,” she jokes. As she tidies, she monologues about the stuff she and her wife have accumulated over the years, and the writing is sharp, smart and laugh-out loud funny. There were many moments when the crowd was in stitches.
2. Cassandra Bissell
As far as I’m concerned, Cassandra Bissell is a superstar. This is a 85-minute one-woman show with no intermission – aka no breaks. It doesn’t take a theater buff to know that’s a tall order. But Bissell more than rises to the occasion, she shines. She’s funny, relatable and charming, plus her comedic timing is expertly executed. You feel for her as she works her way through the mountains of stuff and struggles with increasingly apparent memory troubles.
3. It’s Mysterious
As The Detective is going through her stuff she starts to unravel a troubling mystery. We learn more about the dystopian reality she’s living in and realize that she’s having difficulty remembering things. But why? I won’t spoil the plot for you, but it’s a thrilling journey with clues hidden all throughout.
