Gay Nazis in Luuuuurve

If there's a single theme that American theater has neglected in recent years, it is most definitely the poignant and timeless theme of gay Nazis in love. (Thank you, Windows, for letting me know that "Nazis" should always be capitalized.)

Thank god for the Goodman Theatre's production of Passion Play, then: I greatly enjoyed my quota of gay Nazis in love this weekend.

My weekend was chock full of theater, actually. (Sadly, not chock full of gay Nazis in love. If only!) We saw Fiction by Remy Bumppo at Victory Gardens, which was excellent. If you go and are underwhelmed at intermission, trust me and stay. The second half is an insane wrap up of the first half and it's amazing. I do not abuse the italics button for just any play, people: it was damn good.

Sunday was, as I said, Passion Play at the Goodman. Eh...I just don't know. Maybe I just didn't get it? I mean, yes, some of it was fascinating and very well done, but other parts were just distracting and unnecessary.* Giant fish? Yes, yes, I'm sure it had something to do with how we're all fish and Jesus is a fisher of men and...and...stuff, but mostly the huge, person-sized fish were just enormously distracting (no pun intended).

I also feel like the play itself was not entirely polished. Not the performances, which were of very high caliber, but the text was just...getting there, but not there yet. I don't know: I would make a terrible theater critic. Part of the problem is that every play I see at the Goodman I can't help but compare to their King Lear, which was so amazing that I may have teared up multiple times (although I'll never admit it).

Still, the cycle did have its merits. I did very much like the second piece that took place in Nazi Germany, and not just because of the gay Nazis in love (although the dynamic between those two actors was fantastic throughout the entire cycle). At the very end, with the train to Dachau pulling up, my breath caught. The cycle is almost worth it just for the middle third.

Related but irrelevant: there was a guy on my train this morning sporting a Hitler 'stache. Very jarring for 7:30 a.m., I must say. Not a good call.

Summary: see Fiction if at all possible, see Passion Play if you get free or discounted tickets.

* Distracting but totally necessary: male nudity. As one of my fellow audience members put it, "Hell yes." Good lord, I think that thing is probably visible from space. If I looked like him, I wouldn't have problems getting naked in front of an audience twice a day either.