Featuring a talented cast of six, some of whom appear in the upcoming feature film, Chicago’s home-grown hit “Hellcab” recently had its international premiere at the world’s largest arts festival, in Scotland.
How did this distinctly Chicago play do before a distinctly European audience at this year’s 51st Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
After all, this is one of Chicago’s favorite late-night attractions, written by a former cab driver. Set in a yellow cab just days before Christmas, the play follows one day in the life of the driver as his backseat overflows with a wide sampling of city dwellers.
The struggle of the cab driver, as Everyman, to make sense of all the humanity that spills in and out of his backseat, provides the dramatic thrust of this otherwise darkly comic journey.
The demands placed on foreign audiences to decipher countless geographical references in this highly particular urban setting would seem formidable. Fares to the South Side, Rogers Park, not to mention the Melrose Diner on Broadway, and to Northwestern University could easily confuse.
Certainly, “Hellcab” has already proven its success with Americans. Originating in Chicago in 1992 it has been produced in several cities including Los Angeles, where it was honored by L.A. Weekly with 1996 Theatre Awards for comedy writing, directing and ensemble.
The independent film version, starring John Cusack and Gillian Anderson, will premiere at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival in October.
But British audiences are notorious for their dislike of American comic sensibility.
“Hellcab” proved the exception.
Several days after the opening, the play received a glowing review, followed shortly by the awarding of a prestigious Fringe First, one of 12 awarded during the three-week festival.
For all of its geographical differences, festivalgoers agreed that “Hellcab” provided a shared urban experience. Throughout the run, audience members were overheard remarking on the sense of irony but also the inherent darkness of the comedy that pulled them into the play.
By the end of the festival, the company of “Hellcab” had received offers from producers in Dublin, Israel and Singapore. It would seem that the fragments of life in Chicago, played out in a cab, hold universal truths that resonate on a global level.
———-
Sean O’Neill is former Chicagoan who is now working as a playwright and freelance journalist in London. His play, “Martin and John,” was staged at Live Bait Theatre last year. “Hellcab” continues its open run in Chicago at the Famous Door at the Ivanhoe Theatre, 750 W. Wellington Ave. 773-975-7171.
