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If you want to see a group of actors inculcate a message of joy and happiness (especially at a wake) throughout their entire show, get yourself to "Flanagan's Wake", a bare-bones sketch comedy about the life and death of Flanagan, with vital details supplied by the audience. The evening is divided into two parts. First, a traditional Irish meal is served, including Irish favorites such as corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, Guinness Ale and Limerick Bars. The audience plays the American cousins who have hopped the pond to the fictional town of Grapplin, Ireland to grieve with the family and friends of the deceased. After the meal and a few pints of beer, a solemn version of "An Irish Lullaby" was sung, and the improv show began.

The actors have predetermined roles but their actions and lines are improvised with the help of the American cousins. To set the show's tone a stereotypical Irish priest (Tim Uren) entered the scene with a bible gripped in one hand and a pint of beer in the other, and said a prayer. He was followed by Flanagan's fiancée Fiona played by Kristine Kvanli and two local neighbors, Mickey Finn and Brian Ballybunion (Dan Krozner and Michael Snyder respectively), arriving to pay their respects. Ms. Kvanli played her pain well; the audience grieved with her, and every character spoke with excellent Irish accents. Joe Wiener played the deceased mother, and despite being in a wheelchair, quickly
proved adept at physical comedy in a pre-written bit performed with Shawn Cassidy who played the town's mayor.

Now that the friends and family were gathered in the house of Flanagan, it was time to ruminate on the life Flanagan lived and how he died. The justification for audience suggestions was provided by a feigned loss of memory (or continued consumption of alcohol) that had the characters forgetting how Flanagan died. Mr. Uren led the eulogy and to my delight, an audience member challenged the actors by saying that Flanagan died by defenestration (being thrown out of a window). Sadly the actors seemed unfamiliar with this word.. Mr. Snyder skillfully and comically worked out a story to explain the word, but it would have been more impressive to see a person understand the word then to make up a story about it, no matter how intriguing. Flanagan's friend, Kathleen, played by Rachael Brogran missed the punch as well.

The actors also prompted the audience to supply the place of Flanagan's demise (the Isle of Wight), and his life long goal (trying to open a bar). The mayor, Mr. Cassidy spoke of Flanagan's last day on Earth by using the audience suggestions "ferrets", "a lamp named Susan", shoes that were given to him by the Pope. While Mr. Cassidy had one of the best Irish accents and played his varying emotions extremely well, he was unable to create a viable story out of the audience's suggestions.

After a brief intermission the show became more entertaining. Mr. Kronzer solicited titles of Flanagan's favorite songs and sang the songs substituting the actual words with nonsense that the audience supplied. He came up with a logical verse of the song "Feelings" using the words "purple people eaters," "birthday suit" and "Ecolab," and to the audience's delight kept his Irish accent throughout. Four Irish dancers (actually audience members) dubbed the Killarney Dancers added even more humorous atmosphere to the scene with their attempts at step dancing. This was a welcome musical break and Mr. Kronzer handled the tough task beautifully.

More stories of Flanagan were told and then it was time for Flanagan's mother to speak her mind about the life of her son. The amusing catch was that the mother could only mumble words, and those not even in English. One person could only translate her Gaelic: the neighbor Brian Ballybunion. Flanagan's mother was easily a favorite as, although his character never spoke English, Mr. Wiener portrayed feelings so well that the audience could almost substitute any mumblings with the English words. He was a master of distorting his face to look like an old woman who had lost her teeth. He would look through his glasses scanning the audience to find someone to scold like all mothers seem to constantly do. I continually found myself watching Mr. Wiener throughout the show keep himself engaged in a scene even without lines. He is an improviser with fine-tuned skills.

The audience was given the task of completing various folk sayings (Death is like a... "bummer." The Afterlife is like a... "gas."), and the actors related the saying to the life of Flanagan. The cast did better with these stories than they did with the explanation of Flanagan's death and the show ended on a decidedly strange, but crowd-pleasing twist that only added to the over-the-top follies of the day.

All in all, the show was a comic treat. The actors and staff paid close attention to the details that really helped the audience feel Irish for two hours even if they'd never even looked over a four-leaf clover. Easily this was the most pleasant wake I'd ever been too.