The play comedy performance “No Country for Two Old Men” began showings at Dudley Riggs Theatre in downtown Minneapolis Aug. 8. and it runs through Nov. 2. Directed by Caleb McEwen and provided by sketch comedy company Brave New Workshop, the show deals with the nation’s most controversial topic: the U.S. presidential election. Even from its promotional material, it’s easy to tell the show is no fan of either presidential candidate.
The six-person cast played as depictions of various real life people, such as Kamala Harris, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer, Hunter Biden and Donald Trump. It is worth noting the show should be watched by mature audiences only, as it contains graphic language and themes. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are portrayed as doddering senile men, too old and ideologically-backward to run for office. They are given ample mockery, and the show doesn’t offer explicit support to either of the U.S.’s main political parties: the Democratic Party and the GOP.
Musical numbers are integrated into the play effectively. While not Broadway-level, they are creative, making use of political attitudes for humor. There’s songs that touch on climate change, racial inequality, culture wars and mainstream media — yet none of it feels serious enough to get depressed about. Instead, the viewer is treated to slapstick and burlesque. This works the best when the cast acts as the most outlandish version of themselves.
Acknowledging the recent exit of Joe Biden from the presidential race, the show has performers Isabella Dunsieth and Denzel Belin dually play Kamala Harris. She is portrayed as a conciliatory candidate, meant to placate liberals and progressives in the country who were upset with Biden, even as she struggles to find a policy agenda beyond the President’s. Overall, the show nips at American cultural tropes, like the idea of the American Dream, liberals’ efforts at inclusivity even while apparently ignoring the working class, and conservatives’ stance on issues like abortion or immigration, which are often labeled as extreme by those who are left-wing.
The cast was engaging, full of life and the performance felt earnest. They were not afraid to harp on themselves, or aspects of themselves, in their skits. Their impressions, while overly satirical, were usually funny. There were even moments of improv where the cast joked about audience members’ reactions. Each brought themselves into the world of political humor, and highlighted how they were expected to fit in some demographic-based mold based on things from their sexuality to their ethnic heritage. The cast’s choreography and singing during musical numbers was professional and vibrant.
The audience was entertained throughout. I spotted a surprising amount of older people in the crowd, who were just as politically discerning as the show-writers themselves. That helped because there were plenty of cultural references that spanned generations, and some were lost on me. The show made a caricature of Minnesota governor Tim Walz, who was seen as a folksy addition to Harris’s campaign that was the odd one out among establishment cynics.
By the end of the show, the integrity of the Republican and Democratic parties has been dismantled. Shown during a musical number involving a singing Statue of Liberty, the common person, who has become pessimistic about the future after years seeing increasing tragedies in the world, is left reliant only on hope. The Democrats claim to have answers, but their candidate seems inauthentic. The Republicans, pushed to radicalism by Donald Trump, offer boogeyman policies. The message left to the audience is to sign up to vote. The power for change comes from the people, and it is through people, not politics, that society moves forward.
The sentiment is coherent, but not revelatory. It doesn’t help that the show snuffs out its enjoyable sarcasm in order to bring audiences down to an understanding of this didactic message. If anything, it is jarring seeing the cast go from over-the-top parody to idealistic preaching. Given it is assumed that the show’s audience is already highly politically informed, this part of the show’s conclusion shouldn’t be explicit or should be scrapped outright. It does bring the show down for me, but it flows well otherwise.
Altogether, the show was a witty and passionate performance that skipped over political polarization. It was also a snapshot of our time in culture. Many people, especially those who are not strongly attached to political parties, will resonate with the message and find that our political landscape is lacking in relatability. On some level, it feels American politics is a game being played on a field completely separate from our own. However, if you do have strong feelings about the 2024 election, the message may not hit even if you’re able to laugh at the expense of your party, just for about two hours.
“No Country for Two Old Men:” ★★★★☆
