Review: MR. BURNS: A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY shines a light at Brookfield Theater Of The Arts

When the power goes out, mankind does what they do best: They tell stories. But when the power stays out, which stories will be told the most? That’s what Mr. Burns: a post-electric play tackles in this unique play with music, written by Anne Washburn. Mr. Burns takes place after every nuclear power plant in the world fails. Without power and threatened by radiation, society is plunged into chaos; where cities are quarantined and those outside must form small tribes to survive. That’s where we find our cast, as Matt (Shauna Llamas), Jenny (Camila Paredes), Maria (Emma Okell), Sam (Tony Moreno), and Colleen (Sarah Denn) are sitting around a campfire in rural Connecticut telling a story; more specifically, recreating Season 5, episode 2 of The Simpsons: Cape Feare.

Over the course of Mr. Burns, we watch as each scene takes us further and further into the future after this nuclear apocalypse: From a few weeks after the grid goes down, to a rebuilding society 7 years later, to a fully-formed civilization 75 years after that. During this time, we see our tribe of 5 grow to 7- introducing Gibson (Mason Sacco) and Quincy (Bella Husk)- as society begins to reform around a resurgence of theater, where troupes have begun to stage live adaptations of popular tv shows and barter in batteries, supplies, and accurate lines from the original episodes. Finally, the audience sees what society becomes after evolving in this way: The campfire stories of their ancestors have turned into Greek Tragedy-esque prophetic tales as The Simpsons becomes a metaphor for the nuclear apocalypse. All while playing a game of inter-generational Telephone as the references stray from the original source.

Normally, a review wouldn’t spend this much time on a synopsis, but Mr. Burns is an ambitious play that is still revealing its mysteries to this reviewer, even after being involved in two separate productions of it in the past. This script relies heavily on the cast and crew of each production to create this imaginary society and then portray it to the audience in a way that feels similar enough to our own that they can buy in but alien enough to make us question the basis of our own traditions. Under the direction of Kevoy Somerville, Brookfield Theatre’s production of Mr. Burns creates a resourceful new world for the audience to explore.

Beginning with the cast, Mr. Burns; A Post-Electric Play would be nothing without the titular roles of Bart and Mr. Burns, played Llamas and Moreno respectively. Llamas shines as our original story teller in Act 1, before bursting onto the scene as Bart in Act 3. Her command of space and voice demands respect and is equaled only in passion by Moreno, who spends much of the show in the background before emerging as the mysterious and enigmatic Mr. Burns. The difficulty of opening the show with people sitting around a campfire telling stories, is that the lack of action can make it hard to keep the audience’s interest. One remedy for this is to fluctuate how quickly or slowly a conversation is had in order to keep it interesting. Given that the show is only in its first weekend, it’s simply the product of being live theatre if a production’s pacing hasn’t quite hit its stride yet, which is the case for Mr. Burns. At times the dialogue felt slow and arduous, but then again, Washburn knew this while penning the script and worked moments of excitement to pick up the action, which this cast seized with great aplomb.

As for the set, Andrew Okell has done it again to create a simple yet captivating set that is both minimalist and filled with detail. A shout out to Irene Dumitrascu for their painting of a stormy ocean as the backdrop for the final confrontation.

Pacing comes with repetition and will get better with each performance, and with two weekends remaining in their run, you won’t want to wait to get your tickets! Performances run July 14th-29th with shows on Fri/Sat at 8pm and Sun at 2pm. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at 

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