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Rousuck's Review: Happenstance Theater's "BrouHaHa" At Baltimore Theater Project

Josh Loock

I hope that when the world ends, we’re surrounded by friends and take some joy in companionship. Maybe there will even be some songs, a bit of dancing and a toast or two at a place called the Apocalypse Café.

That’s what goes on in BrouHaHa, the ensemble-created work by Washington’s Happenstance Theater, now at theTheatre Project.

Happenstance subtitles BrouHaHa: “A clownesque escapade.” A clown piece about the apocalypse may sound like a contradiction in terms. But there’s something surprisingly comforting – and charming -- about BrouHaHa

The company credits inspiration ranging from Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” to Samuel Beckett, mythology and images of refugees fleeing Europe in World War II or the current turmoil in Syria.

“The Seventh Seal” shows up early, when BrouHaHa’s six cast members enter in a row, when they line up, when they join hands. Bergman’s movie -- about a knight who challenges death during a plague – is a good fit for BrouHaHa’s end-of-the-world scenario.

We never learn exactly what led to this dire circumstance. There are intimations of bombs and comas and drownings.

Of course, there’s also plenty of clowning around in “BrouHaHa” -- albeit rather dark. Even the opening line -- “Is this the end?” – is a bleakly comic way to start things off.

A little later, the performers – dressed in beige Edwardian costumes -- get their hats mixed up. They start tossing them back and forth -- a cheerful distraction from the threat of imminent annihilation.

A song sung by Gwen Grastorf about being “all alone” at last also turns out to be funny when musician Karen Hansen joins in, followed by the entire audience.

There’s lots of audience interaction in BrouHaHa. At one point, Sarah Olmsted Thomas leads us in affirmations – “You are a good friend”; “You have a great personality” – to help bring a butterfly out of a coma. (It’s a Peter Pan/Tinker Bell moment.)

And, we’re all patrons at the Apocalypse Café, where Sabrina Mandell takes our drink orders, Alex Vernon pantomimes mixing them, and the entertainment is provided by a girl group with a grim but fanciful name.

More than once, an actor collapses. Or they all fall down. It reminded me of “Ring Around the Rosy,” the children’s game that was long thought to be connected to the Black Plague.

This is Happenstance’s fourth visit to the Theatre Project. The high level of ensemble work continues to impress. These multi-faceted actors/singers/clowns/mimes and movement artists are so attuned to each other, it’s easy to believe they’d be inseparable when the world ends.

At various times in BrouHaHa, Alex Vernon uses a clicker to see if we’re “all here.” He doesn’t just count the performers; he also counts everyone in the audience. And that’s the point: We’re all in this together -- and glad that Happenstance is among us.

J. Wynn Rousuck has been reviewing theater for WYPR's Midday (and previously, Maryland Morning) since 2007. Prior to that, she was the theater critic of The Baltimore Sun, where she reviewed more than 3,000 plays over the course of 23 years.