A villainous figure with an overlarge ego is running for public office. You might be surprised that no, I’m not talking about our current president. Rather, a supervillain from 500 years in the future with a humongous brain and penchant for mind control named Brainoid is running for mayor. In the Public House Theatre’s late night comedy show, we’ll find out if he is clever enough to deceive the general public and become the town’s new mayor!
Public House Theatre Brings Us a Small Town Election
We start out in the middle of the mayoral political debate where the Republican candidate has mysteriously dropped out of the race. Brainoid appears on stage as a last minute “Libertarian” candidate to run alongside current mayor and Democratic candidate, Simon McAphee.
Brainoid’s platform is to enslave each and every one of the good townspeople of Hello, Illinois. A seemingly horrific platform to run on, but all of his campaign promises involve some form of criminal activity or another. But as most voters noted, he’s telling it like it is. Despite the possible mind control outcome, maybe he’s not that bad?!?!?
The show jumps around from place to place watching Brainoid try and sway voters in a taco restaurant, to what opponent Simon is up to after his mind has been jumbled by Brainoid (he’s now as functional as an adult baby). It comes down to a close race as the public decides if they should go for the sympathy vote with Simon or whether they like the intimidating, possibly brain controlling, Brainoid.
Funny Moments, but Scene Changes Choppy
The play has a lot of scene changes which can make the story seem disconnected at times. Despite moving quickly from place to place, the leading men playing Brainoid and Simon, Judson Russell and Bryce Read respectively, carry the show well. Russell has great comedic timing as the evil villain not really caring what people think of him as long as he gets his way. Read plays both sides of Simon well as the mayor when he’s lost his mind and when he’s fed up with voters actually wanting to vote for a terrible person. Alongside the two leading men, the rest of the cast has some comical moments, but didn't meet the bar of these two talents.
VOTE BRAINOID is an interesting way to spend an hour on a Friday night if you’re over in the Irving Park neighborhood. It might not be the show for you if you’re looking for some hard hitting theatre, but it’s good for those looking for a chuckle and short show with slight political undertones.
SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED
When
Now through April 28th
Fridays at 10:00pm
Where
The Public House Theatre
3914 N Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60613
Tickets
$15
Tickets are available at the Public House Theatre website
Photo
Courtesy of the Public House Theatre
