Meredith Bell Alvarez and Jon Steinhagen Photo

From: Photo Coverage: Signal Ensemble Theatre Presents THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND

Signal Ensemble Theatre presents the first show of its eighth season, Tom Stoppard's comedy 'The Real Inspector Hound,' the ensemble's inaugural presentation in their permanent theater space at 1802 W. Berenice Ave., a 50-seat venue in Chicago's North Center neighborhood. Theatre critics Moon and Birdboot attend the premiere of a new murder mystery and are swept into the whodunit they are viewing. As Moon laments his status as a second-string reviewer, and Birdboot considers adultery with one of the shows actresses, they soon find themselves inside the play-within-a-play, implicated in the lethal activities of an escaped madman. In a hilarious send-up of Agatha Christie-style melodrama, Stoppard's 1968 work is just as rooted in absurdism as it is in satire. Kicking off Signal's 'Season of Comedy,' this play set in the theater will appropriately open Signal's new performance space. The show will run about 65 minutes with no intermission.