“Viva La Mort: A Play With Songs” mines the 1956 Swiss novel “The Visit” by Friedrich Durrenmatt that came to further fame in a 1964 Hollywood melodrama with Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn. In the original, a wealthy woman arrives in the poverty-stricken hamlet of her childhood, offering to restore the town and provide a bounty for each of its citizens, with one condition: she wants the man who spurned her as a youth, but now is a pillar of the community, to be killed. How far will the citizens go in exacting her retribution?

This is one of The Conspirators’ most ambitious efforts, and resident playwright Sid Feldman  (it's directed by Wm.Bullion) has artfully updated the storyline—the setting moves to small town Michigan, the wealthy woman is modeled after Madonna, and some fresh faces fill major roles. This includes Andrew Bosworth, who leads the cast as Mort Miller, the love interest of Viva, familiar to audiences for recent roles in “Innocence of Seduction” and “Man of the People.”

The title character, Viva, is played by Libby Conkle, who is superlative. So is Liam Ouweleen as her current flames in three convincingly delivered dialect roles: Spanish Lonnie, British Konnnie, and the American jock, Johnny. It was remarkable to see actors more schooled in naturalistic performance adopt The Conspirators unique style, with exaggerated expressions and heavy makeup playing against the continuous commentary of the percussionist, Aimee Bass. All were game for The Conspirators’ approach and blended pretty smoothly with the regular troupe. 

Costumes by Kit Medic are among the best we've seen at The Conspirators, a critical element for the character of Viva. And aspects of the show are on a par with the best The Conspirators have produced. (The hilarious "Commedia Divina" "Commedia Divina" returns in October 2024; don't miss it.)  

Alas, one weakness lies in the script, which might have been improved by cutting it into a single act of 90-minutes, instead of two acts with intermission. The first half lags, and scenes are inflated to allow for stage funny business, the stock-in-trade of The Conspirators’ neo-commedia dell'arte format, which they dub “The Style.” A sense of slapdash detracted from the power of the story, which examines how townsfolk will turn on their own, when enough money is dangled before them.

Sets were minimal, but this isn’t doesn’t detract from “Viva La Mort,” as is true of most of The Conspirators shows. The high energy hijinx are completely absorbing and largely entertaining. One other problem was the sound, which was good overall, but weak in a crucial scene where Viva sings wearing a headset that unfortunately muffled her vocals against the rest of the players.

Nevertheless the story carried, and the strength of the stars overcomes less successful aspects of the show. “Viva La Mort” runs through June 9 at Other World Theater, 3914 N. Clark in Chicago.