Village Playhouse’s ‘Jake Revolver’ turns in circles with word play

Jake Revolver: Freelance Secret Agent is a goofy detective parody mostly basing its humor on self-reference and word play. A lot of word play. Probably a bit too much word play. While quite funny at first, the puns just go on and on, at the expense of other aspects such as character relationships and comprehensive plot. 

Hardboiled detective stories are meant to be a bit non-linear, but this plot had a tendency to go off the rails (via commercial breaks and a trail of thought tangents), before jumping back on, seemingly after skipping a few pages.

You get a glimpse of what might have made this an especially notable story, with jabs at the inception of television versus old-time radio. There’s a moment when a radio actress gets upset because she has to play multiple parts while the lead only has one. At Village Playhouse’s opening night this was especially humorous because the beloved actor, Jeff Davis, was sick and his roles needed to be promptly taken on by Donald Kozinski and Logan Milway.

And they did well, as did the entire cast in their purposefully archetypal characterizations. Our private eye, Casey Van Dam, was particularly engaging with his many facial expressions—his eyes going from almost squinted shut to absolutely bulging. He was also quick in giving his lines. Lindsay Erin as Angel Fatale had a voice that could bring you back to black-and-white films of the 1950s.

As a show, it was well put together. The radio booth was set up with actors milling about the stage in character before the show, live sound effects by Paul Zaragoza, and period microphones and costumes.

If you want a story that’s engaging, this might not be the show for you. But if you’re in for a parody about detectives, live radio and character archetypes, this show does deliver.

Through Aug. 21 at Inspiration Studios, 1500 S. 73rd St. For tickets visit villageplayhouse.org or call 414-207-4879.