‘Namosaur!

Scott Oken’s “‘Namosaur!” is exuberant nonsense. It is set in Vietnam in 1968 and follows a group of GIs led by Laura McKenzie’s ass-kicking CIA operative, Weaver, as they search the jungle for an evil genius bent on world domination. Dozens of movies are referenced; Bigfoot is involved, as is an EZ-Bake oven, and at one point there is an attack by several Woody Woodpecker clones. You get the idea.

Every other line feels re-purposed from a movie or TV show and cleverly bent to serve ‘Namosaur!’s giddy circus of a plot. It’s a pop culture mash-up written to amuse all those of us who grew up watching too much TV and re-watching too many movies. The cast energetically mugs to the audience and never lets a joke land un-winked at. Eric Roach as Professor Nguyen Nguyen (pronounced win-win, and constantly milked for eye-rolling laughs) chews all the scenery in sight and spits out his lines in a constantly morphing accent that would be distracting if everything else about the show wasn’t nuclear powered ridiculousness. Its jokes elicit groans as often as laughs, but ‘Namosaur! is so self-aware and referential that it has to be full of bad jokes to be itself. If you’ve ever enjoyed a b-movie, you will have a good time at this show. A couple drinks wouldn’t hurt either.

Recommended
by Eric Tengler

‘Namosaur! by Scott Oken
Directed by Manny Tamayo
Presented by Factory Theater through August 31st
Factory Theater at the Prop Theater 3502 N Elston Ave

For more information on this and other shows, visit www.theatreinchicago.com