Nerds invariably get a frisson from a gathering of the like-minded but the atmosphere at Chicago Shakespeare Theater this past weekend was one of uncommonly giddy excitement as big-brained dating couples and families discovered that here was a show that would not only teach you how to create a New York Times-style crossword puzzle but reveal enough secrets about Scrabble and Words With Friends to allow for future triumphs featuring one BINGO after another. I thought one kid in the room was going to melt into the floor with excitement at all the new arrows that had just been loaded into his quiver.
Better yet, the show actually contains do-it-yourself puzzles, the solving of which was billed as a prerequisite for entering the theater (arrive early!). Compassion was shown to those of us whose neurons cannot regularly be trusted to fire in a timely fashion.
All of this comes courtesy of the brainiac performer David Kwong, whose self-penned 90-minute show is billed as an offering of an “intellectual brand of magic.” Kwong, a personable presence, does some card tricks reasonably well, although nothing you won’t have seen before if you’re a fan of prestidigitation, currently ubiquitous in Chicago, and happily so. Decks and shuffles are not Kwong’s main strength. But when it comes to the provision and solving of puzzles, he dominates his delicious niche. Better yet, his storytelling is just as formidable as his explanations of the deep secrets of crossword compilers (fascinating!) and the overarching yarn he tells on Navy Pier has a beguiling local connection.
It relies on the history of one George Fabyan, a wealthy man who founded the Riverbank estate and Riverbank Laboratories in west suburban Geneva, of all places. (Fox Valley readers will no doubt be familiar with Fabyan Parkway and the Fabyan Forest Preserve). Fabyan was, in Kwong’s telling, something of a tyrant, and an eccentric one to boot: he was obsessed with the so-called Baconian theory of Shakespearean origin. (Fake news!) In that pursuit, he ended up hiring Elizebeth Smith and William Friedman who, post-marriage, both became giants in the nascent field of U.S. cryptology. (Aside from helping the war effort alongside his wife, Friedman’s code-breaking skills also helped indict Al Capone.)
For anyone interested in local history, this is all compelling stuff, especially since Kwong has themed many of his in-show puzzles around Fabyan, Riverbank and the Friedmans, offering an audience more code-breaking opportunities than any show, like, ever. His attraction also has a cool Arts and Crafts vibe in the cabaret-style setting from Brett J. Banakis, aptly enough, given Frank Lloyd Wright’s involvement in Riverbank.
Puzzles in this piece are layered onto puzzles and then an uber-puzzle, creating the show’s ultimate climax and, along the way, empowering a lot of people who get to stand up and offer their solutions. (I was never among them.) I’ve always noticed how this kind of brain shows up without regard to age, gender, race or any other demographic division and the master-solvers in my audiences certainly proved that point.
The rest of us could only offer our admiration.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Review: “The Enigmatist” (3 stars)
When: Through June 30
Where: Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Navy Pier
Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Tickets: $59-$110 at 312-595-5600 and www.chicagoshakes.com
