Review: Here Lies Henry/Interrobang Theatre Project | Newcity Stage

Review: Here Lies Henry/Interrobang Theatre Project | Newcity Stage:

Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor wrote “Here Lies Henry” in 1996, fifteen years prior to all of the Mike Daisey hoopla, yet the topical parallels are striking. Currently being performed in Chicago by Interrobang Theatre Project in a remount of their 2011 production, MacIvor’s play is an idiosyncratic rumination on the nature of the truth onstage. Is it even possible to tell the truth onstage? The fourth wall, that great dissembler of reality, is entirely removed by the playwright, though the piece, itself, is wholly fictional. With that invisible barrier shattered, Henry lies right in the face of the audience. Despite this obvious breach of trust, the audience sticks by his side. In part, this is because of the resonance of actor Michael Moran’s flawed likability, and also because of the unexpected profundity that escapes Henry’s mouth amidst the ceaseless babbling.