Review: Mortem Capiendum

Critic's Pick

Walk in the super cool, high tech Media Bridges space in Over-the-Rhine, take a right at the entrance and step back in time to the age of traveling hucksters, miracles tonics and ointments that cure all ills, of Depression-era depression. Two hootin’, hollerin’ pitchmen take the stage (after first dressing it properly, of course) and begin their sales call to the “wise” people of Hamilton County. “Oh boy, a show,” the dopey one announces proudly.

It’s clear there’s one man running the show here: the inimitable Professor Jonathon Saint Miracle. The other guy is just, well, useless. Except when he enlightens the proceedings with an inspired banjo tune. But, oh, there’s also an audience member who simply loves to volunteer. He wouldn’t be financially involved in the proceedings, would he?

Mortem Capiendum nails its atmosphere from the start, which is usually quite a challenge in the Fringe. Many spaces, including the room at Media Bridges, aren’t especially conducive to theater. So give credit to the good folks at Four Humors Theater out of Minneapolis. They take the stage and control focus. Like it or not, while you’re sitting in front of them you’re transported.

The phrase "mortem capiendum" derives from the mysterious trunk with which they share the stage. “To capture death” is all they’ll first tell us about the trunk, their latest creation (and the show’s title). Could their bizarre tale of finding and cheating death scientifically explain the tonic they’ve created that allows all buyers the ability to delay eternal rest?

It’s a good yarn, spun with energy and that certain devil-may-care attitude of confident performers. Here’s our thing, they seem to say. Go along for the ride and it will be a lot more fun.

And it is. Even when the show takes its grave turn. Should one cheat death? Does it come with too steep a price? Watching the whole thing play out, you begin to understand why so few onlookers are reaching for their wallets to buy the elixir when the presentation concludes.

The three-man team from Four Humors is solid and comfortable in the roles and with the material. You wonder if perhaps they didn’t base the characters and cadence on characters from the film O Brother Where Are Thou?, another Depression era trio of con-men.

But the application of those characters in something less sprawling than Homer’s Iliad (O Brother’s conceit), something a little more intimate and metaphysical, sustains Mortem Capiendum and makes it more digestible. And the apparent joy the performers have with fringing makes it extra delicious.

— Rodger Pille