![Sara Marsh left Jane Froiland, and Luverne Seifert act out a scene from the play "The Norwegiansî at the Dark and Stormy theater Tuesday November 29, 2016 in Minneapolis Minnesota.] Jerry Holt / jerry. Holt@Startribune.com](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/U5JL4Z6AGVKUA3WYXZICDMW3IE.jpg?&w=1080)
Like its title characters, "The Norwegians" is not what it seems.
For starters, C. Denby Swanson's play that opened Thursday in Minneapolis is not a hard-boiled detective story, even though it starts out looking like one. As the action begins, a jukebox plays some saxophone-laced jazz while two men in heavy winter coats move around a woman seated at a table.
The menacing men are not officers of the law trying to force a confession — far from it. Tor (Luverne Seifert) and Gus (James Rodriguez) are hit men for hire, and they're trying to figure out if they should take on Olive (Jane Froiland) as a client. A Texas transplant living in Minnesota, Olive has been jilted by her boyfriend and doesn't want to endure the bitter winter by herself.
An electric blanket and a pet would be a better solution, but that would rob us of the laughs in this preposterous, dark comedy.
The acting company has a rollicking time with this one-act, channeling oversized characters. Seifert's Tor, named for the god of thunder, swings between the serious and the silly. His deadpan delivery is often at odds with his menace, a disjuncture lined with comic gold. Rodriguez's Gus is the funny hit man and his actions — from marketing talk to showing feelings for a client — humorously compromise him. Froiland is often hilarious as the Texan-in-Minnesota. She gives Olive a charming loopiness. And Sara Marsh, who plays Olive's friend and drinking buddy, Betty, commands the stage with gusto.
Director Joel Sass uses a cinematic technique for his scene changes, where the actors look like they're being rewound. It's clever enough. I suspect that Dark and Stormy Productions might have more options with a bigger light grid. As it is, it's efficient with a comic edge.
Broad comedy leans heavily on stereotypes, which is tricky to negotiate. Swenson's play uses "uff da" a little too much. And she makes a sharp point about Minnesotans not getting irony. But "Norwegians" is not just a sendup. It's a paean to the hardy, aspirational people who settled Minnesota.
And if that's too sweet for you, it's also about sotto voce griping and bitterness over drinks.
