More Than Hardboiled Detective Silliness?

On the surface, Matthew Konkel’s Jake Revolver, Freelance Secret Agent is a fun little hardboiled detective parody. There’s a murder, a mystery, intrigue and rapidfire wordplay. Charismatic Phil Stepanski plays a gumshoe detective in a live staging of a fictional broadcast drama from the golden age of radio. The fedora and trench coat he’s wearing speak to standard genre conventions, but when the murder victim ends up being his narrator, things get quite a bit more complicated.

Why was the narrator killed? Clearly someone wanted to engage in shadowy behavior and couldn’t afford to have an omniscient perspective getting in the way. It’s a clever premise that hints at something deeper. Jake Revolver is a goofy spoof with sharp intellectual teeth. Beyond the superficial silliness there’s a deeply playful exploration of dichotomy and duality. The show tumbles through a narrative that plays with the fourth wall in a weird, existential funhouse, dizzyingly drenched in a semi-automatic barrage of humor.

There are more than a few bits of genuinely funny dialogue that linger around weak puns and secondhand jokes that litter the script, but the real fun is the deeper end of the story. Of particular interest here is the crisply witty Kristin Johnson playing dual roles of both femme fatale and tough-as-nails police officer. Johnson has a very sophisticated feel for the humor in iconic roles of both heroic villain and villainous hero. The rest of the cast members play dual roles as actors and characters in old-time radio drama. There’s a rich visual appeal to the show as actors play actors onstage as they live between moments in character at the microphone. 

Through Jun. 27 at the Brumder Mansion, 3046 W. Wisconsin Ave. For tickets, call 414-388-9104 or visit milwaukeeentertainmentgroup.com.