I fished this jacket I hadn’t worn since last winter out of storage the other day and found a pin in the inside pocket that said, in small black capitals, “MAGIC COTTON BALLS.” Many playgoers around town probably have one of these pins lying around too, waiting to remind them that perhaps our best, most unique Chicago theater tradition—The Ruffians’ annual production of Burning Bluebeard, now in its eighth year of holiday runs—is around the corner again. I got my pin as a postshow souvenir after last year’s mesmerizing blackbox production with the Neo-Futurists. This year, the show plays its first downtown venue, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, with Porchlight Music Theatre.
Torrence, who in addition to creating the piece also plays Robert Murray, the stage manager, believes his show is ultimately about hope. He drew attention to the discipline of clowning, with its built-in emotional seesaw, as context for his show’s blend of levity and tragedy. “Red-nose clowning is these highs and lows,” he said. “What do we do with horribleness?”
Through 12/27: times vary, see website, Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn, 773-777-9884, porchlighttheatre.org, $45.
