Happenstance Theater presents “Dreadful Episodes”- A Peculiar Delight

By Alix Cohen

Inspired by the illustrations of Edward Gorey, Victorian reverie, ill-fated romance, calamitous croquet, and the dangers of windy cliffs.

“The world is full of people who are not quite right.” Edward Gorey

We’re welcomed by deadpan, debonair Mark Jaster. Time slows. A drunk actress histrionically despairs as Lady Macbeth (Sabrina Mandell.) A gleeful little girl skibbles by, opening and closing large scissors, clearly on her way to precipitate mayhem. (Sarah Olmsted Thomas) A formally attired, put-upon maid pushes her employer’s straw bath chair, increasingly exasperated by so-called betters throughout the evening. (Gwen Grastorf)

Show Card: The Erstwhile Siblings. Having lost their parents, two sisters in matching dresses are foisted upon a severe uncle who denies every request for cheerful activity- putting them in the way of danger; never unfolding his arms. Comeuppance he suffers at their hapless? hands is preposterously original and funny.

“I’ve executed prisoners for years, this last was quite rough,” gripes a (theatrically created) dwarf. Beside him a severed head (Jay Owen) begins Happenstance’s own, unique version of Edward Gorey’s Alphabet from The Gashlycrumb Tinies “Shut up you nutter, you’re dead,” snaps the executioner. “I suppose I should go now I’m a head,” responds the victim.

Show Card: The Spilsby Suitor. “There were two sisters young as the day…” walking by the sea arm in arm. A young man rescues their umbrella from whipping wind. “Only one of the sisters came away/Hi Ho/And she married the young man in the month of May.” Cue ominous squawking swans.

There’s A tweedy middle-aged couple who come across disasters, obliviously noting only trappings… the “Who Killed Cock Robin Quartet”, an example of Victorian (1880) appetite for turning death into delight. (Cock Robin’s death by arrow, shot by Sparrow, and the elaborate funeral staged by the birds of the air) …Tom Waits’ “A Little Drop of Poison” performed with a wicked grin and Fanny Brice grace in red velvet and turkey feathers (flap, flap)…

An ersatz operatic “La Triviata” (by Karen Hansen) for elegantly dressed patrons who find it impossible not to interfere with each other…Dancing the Devil Away” (Harry Ruby/Burt Kalmar/Otto Harbach)…A lengthy, aristocratic croquet game performed in slow motion, part accidentally, part vengefully violent, with balletic precision, Rube Goldberg imagination, and a triumphant maid.

Co-Direction by Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell is a master class in elegant silliness and adroit timing. Shenanigans are almost consistently classy, polished, poetic, and casually ironic. Mortality is winked at and dispensed with; reason and romance recalcitrant.

Physical acting, dance, and mime are first rate. Co-founder Mark Jaster (also skilled with the musical saw!) and Sarah Olmsted Thomas’s facial expressions are particularly irresistible. Gwen Grastorf’s emotional molting and co-founder Sabrina Mandell’s dysfunctional patricians are grand. Filling in for an absent member, Jay Owen hasn’t yet meshed with the alchemy.

Costume Design (Sabrina Mandell) is outstanding, period perfect, often wry, fitted as well to character as figure.
Props (Mark Jaster & Sabina Mandell) follow suit.

Music Direction and Arrangement/Musician (Stephanie Baird) is widely sourced (traditional folk to Kurt Weill to Beethoven as well as original) and specifically apt. Piano and organ are deft.

Button your boots, tip your toppers, and prepare for a parade of the odd and ruthless. Happenstance is a delightful tonic for the times.

Happenstance: https://www.happenstancetheater.com/
Dreadful Episodes is an adaptation of Cabaret Macabre IV, an ongoing series.

Photos by Leah Huete
Opening: Alex Vernon, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell

Happenstance Theater presents Dreadful Episodes
Collaboratively Devised
Directed by Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell
Through November 2, 2025
59E59th Street Theaters
https://59e59.org/shows/show-detail/dreadful-episodes/