Drilling Company Extends THE NORWEGIANS Through 11/24

By: Tyler Peterson Oct. 15, 2013

The Drilling Company has extended its Off-Broadway production of "The Norwegians" by C. Denby Swanson, directed by Elowyn Castle, through November 24. Performances will continue at The Drilling Company Theatre, 236 West 78th Street. That's where the show began Off-off Broadway last season and where it was re-mounted as The Drilling Company's first Off-Broadway production. Originally scheduled for October 3 to 28, the Off-Broadway run has been extended through November 24 due to hearty audience response.

"The Norwegians" by C. Denby Swanson is a strong, bitter comedy about women scorned in Minnesota and the really, really nice gangsters--Norwegian hit men--they hire to whack their ex-boyfriends. Olive is a transplant from Texas and Betty is a transplant from Kentucky, but neither of them was prepared for the Norwegian men they would fall in love with there: the practical, warm, thoughtful, destructive, evil, jilting kind. If you're a hit man in Minnesota, 83% of your clients want to take out their ex (Oofda!). Olive has referred Betty to Gus and Tor, a partnership in the whacking business. What Tor doesn't know is that Gus has been sleeping with the clients. What Olive doesn't know is that Gus is Betty's own ex, and she has already put out a hit on him with a Swiss firm. Can Betty call off the job in time to let Gus do his? Should she?

The play is the first outright comedy by C. Denby Swanson, a Texas native. In it, she applies film noir and mob movie genres to life in Minnesota, whose winters she endured for a few years. Her prior plays have mostly been dramedies. The rest just had something funny in them to make the tragedy go down better. ("I tend to write about death," she says, "you have to put funny in them."). It's directed by Elowyn Castle, a seasoned director who played Coriolanus' ambitious mother, Volumnia, in The Drilling Company's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot in 2012. The New York Times (Catherine Rampall) described her as "pushy and hard-bitten" in the role of "the Momma Rose of the Roman military" who persuades her reluctant son to run for consul, Rome's highest office.

The actors are Veronica Cruz (Olive), Dan Teachout (Gus), Karla Hendrick (Betty) and Hamilton Clancy (Tor). Choreographer is Megan Snipe. Costume Design is by Mimi Maxmen. Scenic design is by Jennifer Verbalow. Lighting design is by Tyler Learned.

Photo by Jonathan Slaff

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