Two shows -- two closings: Odradek and Bordello

Both House Theatre's Odradek at Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division, and Bordello at Chicago Dramatist, 1105 W. Chicago Ave., are in their world-premiere runs which are closing the end of this week. Odradek closes Saturday and Bordello closes Sunday.

Odradek, a three person show plus a bass player (Ruben Gonzalez), has a deeply disturbed teenaged boy, Kyle (played uncomfortably well by Joey Steakley), at the center of Brett Neveu's play. Billed as a Midwestern gothic  fairy tale and part Hitchcockian thriller, the story was heavily influenced by Franz Kafka's short story "The Cares of a Family Man" in which Odradek is a small creature whose name in its Germanic/Slavic origin means a wooden spool of thread. In this presentation, Odradek is a large creature with a deep voice that lives beneath the stairs and is composed of dusty stuff. He is the one entity that Kyle can "communicate" with.

As the young Iowa boy struggles to deal with his parent's divorce, the lack of his mother's presence and a his father's new love interest -- Kyle's doctor, you see him spiral into certain oblivion. You observe and hear the awkward attempts of communication between and amongst the young female doctor  (played by  Carolyn Defrin who was the mom and a rat in House's Nutcracker), the father (played by David Parks) and Kyle. It can give you the discomfort of realizing you have heard or experienced this dysfuctionality in real life.

Directed by Dexter Bullard with music by Josh Schmidt, the pedigree of the creators is outstanding. The sets, as is often the case in House productions, are well done. So if you are into dark and blood and guts are good experiences for you, be sure to see this well performed show. The show runs Thurs. thru Sat. beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets ate $25 and $10 for students.

Bordello at Chicago Dramatist revolves around seven licensed prostitutes and unseen men in a brothel sixty miles outside of Las Vegas, NV. The story flips between the "ladies" pitching their services and their conversations amongst themselves in the break room.

The play gives the audience an opportunity to see the stories of each woman, whose freedom as an independent business person is, for the most part, anything but independent and free. The range of the women's backgrounds makes one realize that the whores are as varied in personalities, dependability and trustworthiness as their customers.

While you might find the first half to one hour of the hooker industry vocabulary a bit offensive or annoying, after a while it seems to be less grating. Most of the break room dialogue covers the business of being a hooker as the personal background of each woman is uncovered. Competition and admiration also play out fueled by such things as "Customer Appreciation Night" when the most successful girl can win a car.

In the first act, eighteen year old Kitten (played by Joanne Dubach) the youngest of the girls, who has been abused her whole life, thinks that her pimp loves her and is going to marry her and buy a house...real soon. In the second act, a year later, she acts as though she now has control of her life and destiny and wants to save the others from their controlled lives. In reality she still has a pimp only this time it is a preacher.

While you do get involved in the emotions and tragedies of several of their lives, it seems that the characters need for development and clarity.

Mother-like Honey (played by Marguerite Hammersley), turns out to be not what one presumes while Dana Black as Mandy rules as a dominatrix.  Katherine Keberlin who played the role as Jewel very well seemed to be the best developed character. The premise that Lotus (played by Melissa Canciller's) went from med school to brothel seemed a bit of a stretch. Godiva was played by Kyra Morris and Michelle was taken by Ariuana Dziedzic.

Remaining shows are Thurs. thru Sat. night at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. Tickets: $32 with $15 for students. For directions go to their website.

*House Production photo