Whether it be through the hues glowing of our screens or the escalating tensions of our society it feels like we’ve all lost a bit of ourselves. The new revue from The Second City e.t.c stage, easily the best show to hit this stage, shows how ridiculous society has been acting lately and of course with huge laughs.
No sketch in The Second City’s 39th Revue “Soul Brother, Where Art Thou?” showed people’s ridiculous attachments to technology more than Eddie Mujica acting as an attention-demanding iPhone who has been put away by Tim Ryder who wants to disconnect for a while, but the phone controls him more than he knows. Another sketch of a New Orleans-style funeral being held for a phone that was dropped on the floor only highlights how our ridiculous technology addiction.
The Second City Etc. 39th Revue “Soul Brother, Where Art Thou!” © Todd Rosenberg Photography 2015
There is also a strong social justice theme throughout the show as seen by one of the early sketches between Ryder and new-comer Rashawn Nadine Scott, the show’s stand out, where they play Disneyland characters who on a break from work awkwardly try to talk about the racial tensions in the country in a scene that starts with the line “I’m sorry about Ferguson” and ends with “So what’s it like to swim?” The social justice hits hard with a line in a sketch with Scott and fellow newcomer Lisa Beasley where a common racial epithet is used and Scott plays off the audiences uncomfortableness with “We can say that word but you can’t. Just like you can say words like ‘I can’t breathe’ and we can’t.” A line that not only provides laughter but also provokes thought.
Of course, common sketches scene throughout many of Second City’s shows make an appearance like an uncomfortable first date between Mujica and Carisa Barreca where Barreca has a greek chorus helping her that she thinks is invisible and actually isn’t. However, in true Second City fashion it provides hilarious therapy for our daily issues.
“Soul Brother, Where Art Thou?” will be playing at Second City located at 1616 N. Wells St. Tickets starts at $23. For more information visit secondcity.com/shows/chicago/the-second-city-e-t-c-s-39th-revue-soul-brother-where-art-thou.