More If You've Got It: Five Plays from Theater Oobleck Paperback August 21, 2012

by Dave Buchen

More If You’ve Got It brings together five full-length plays from Chicago's acclaimed Theater Oobleck. This collection features works by five founding members, each currently active with the Ugly’s First World by Jeff Dorchen, in which a singing zombie, seeking revenge against T. S. Eliot, becomes a pawn in a battle to overthrow God; Innocence and Other Vices by Dave Buchen, a half-true, half-blasphemous screwball comedy about the mildly unhealthy relationship between charity and capitalism; Letter Purloined by David Isaacson, a whodunit comedy about war atrocities and a handkerchief; There Is a Happiness That Morning Is by Mickle Maher, a play in rhymed verse, about the poetry of William Blake and having sex in public; and Necessity by Danny Thompson, a bloody and historically inaccurate bio-drama of Thomas Alva Edison. See what audiences around the world have come to know as uniquely irreverent, vexed, impossibly funny, and unexpectedly transcendent.

Unknown Binding

First published August 7, 2012

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of fun, provocative plays. I bought it particularly for "Letter Purloined" which I had seen performed in NYC in 2006. It is the highlight of the collection.

"Letter Purloined" consists of 26 scenes, each assigned a letter of the alphabet, which are performed in a different order each show, randomly determined by that performance's audience as they enter. The plot concerns genocide in a fictional kingdom, an investigation, several written letters that are mixed up and purloined, as well as the order in which events can happen. I thought it was absolutely brilliant as a performance, and it was just as compelling as a read.

"Necessity", a fictional account of Thomas Edison's inventions, murderous rampage and ongoing impersonation of Helen Keller was also quite a fun read.