Your Chicago Guide’s tickets for two to the press viewing of Turret courtesy of A Red Orchid Theatre.
Now EXTENDED by popular demand through June 22, 2024.
Turret, a world premiere from A Red Orchid Theatre featuring Michael Shannon, is currently on stage at The Chopin Theatre. It is written and directed by Levi Holloway. In addition to Shannon, the cast includes Travis A. Knight and Lawrence Grimm.
Two men survive in a facility deep underground somewhere in the wild woods of the Pacific Northwest. They are hiding away from something terrible looming just outside, what it is isn’t quite clear. Ensnared in a relentless loop of endless tomorrows (think post-apocalyptic Groundhog Day), they discover the big bad wolf is already inside. The danger is waiting in the creeping darkness all around them. Turret is an excavation of masculinity, love, loss and isolation. A claustrophobic carnival of carnage, carrier pigeons, cribbage, whiskey, music, mischief and mayhem, it is both sarcastic and terrifying all at once.
Fantastic (and fantastical) staging puts the audience inside what seems to be a military survivalist bunker, where old habits die hard. Military precision rules all aspects of life for Green and Rabbit, be it the day’s agenda or physical training. Repetition reigns supreme, and deviation from the plan is not tolerated. In an almost a father-son type dysfunctional relationship, Michael Shannon’s sardonic alcoholic Green seems paternal towards the young and eager to please Rabbit. But nothing is what it seems in this twisted tale of survival.
What happened on the surface? Who are the creatures roaming the woods? An open-ended question remains, with only some hints and insinuations provided for the audience throughout the play. We, the viewers, seem to be part of the bigger experiment. Are we the real subjects? Are we the real enemy? Turret, part comedy, part murder not-so-mystery, part psychological thriller, will dazzle ancd confuse you until the last gasping second.
A Red Orchid Theatre production, Turret is now playing through June 22, 2024, on the main stage of The Chopin Theatre, 1543 West Division Street, in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Tickets are available by calling the box office at (312) 943-8722 or online at www.aredorchidtheatre.org.