(The Second City, 27 July 2024)
The cast are at their best when they interact with the audience. The rest of the time, they are philosophers' philosophers, at best. Their sketches are about the unseen process, not the product. The product, too rough and too puerile to delight, shows how far one can get by simply trying and playing along, the lack of acting skills and talent notwithstanding.
The generous interpretation of the Second City is that, just like democracy itself, it is mediocre but robust. One could remove or replace any cast member, and the sequence of tolerable sketches would still keep coming. This democratic arrangement can be appropriate in families, organisations, and firms. The arrangement will not deliver beautiful art, though, except by the accident of nature selected through vigorous and brutal competition, which Chicagoland appears to be incapable of furnishing.
