Nice Fish

Apropos, I suppose, that the Guthrie is home to Nice Fish, a play about ice fishing (among other things), as we're exiting (hopefully) what feels like the longest winter ever.  Capturing not only the bizarre rituals underlying this quintessentially Minnesotan activity, but also the requisite stream-of-consciousness conversation that such an activity inspires, Nice Fish ends up being a rather nice catch, if a bit squirmy and briny at points. 

Anchoring the show are two Guthrie veterans, Mark Rylance (also a co-playwright of the work) and Jim Lichtscheidl (who will forever be Vladimir to me after seeing him in Waiting for Godot at the Jungle).  Rylance's wide-eyed, wandering Ron, played with a Forrest Gump bounce in his delivery, is a direct foil to Lichtscheidl's Erik, whose Erik clearly just wants to be left alone to fish but breaks occasionally to pepper his character's melancholy with poetic interludes.

There are plenty of laughs in Nice Fish, and plenty to ponder, despite the somewhat lengthy show time. The audience loved the central duo and laughed often, as much for well-timed conversations as for physical comedy and a well-placed stare or shrug by Erik. The deadpan DNR agent provided one of my favorite scenes in the first act, steamrolling explanations by our duo and somewhat seamlessly transitioning (how did he do that?) to become a self-described angel. The beautiful Flo, channeling a snow goddess in a skimpy bikini, adds an additional element of mythological poetry to the show.

Despite the snowy tableau, which at this point is fully unappreciated by most of us, this is a well-executed poem-in-play-form, served over ice. Make this your last wintry exercise of the season, end your winter with Nice Fish.

Nice Fish plays through May 18th.

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