![\"Jeff](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CTC-L-ENT-EELPOUT-02.jpg\")
Jeff Rodriguez and Jes\u00fas Barajas (center left and right) and cast in “Eelpout!” by Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit. (Michael Brosilow)<\/p>\nAn eelpout is not a Minnesota expression of surprise but a nocturnal, eel-like creature, often the quarry of ice-fishers. Some people call them the \u201cpoor man\u2019s lobster.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Paul W. Kruse\u2019s play \u201cEelpout!,\u201d they are also a kind of confessor.<\/p>\n
A fluid meditation on male friendships and sexuality, \u201cEelpout!\u201d is now in production from Chicago\u2019s Shattered Globe Theatre. Therein, we meet Sven Svensen (Jeff Rodriguez) and Ole Olsen (Carl Hallberg), two longtime pals who like to pound their lures on the wintry bottoms of frozen northern lakes.<\/p>\n
Their friendship is under stress because tomorrow is Ole\u2019s bachelor party. What will that mean for a couple of buddies whose relationship might be more complex than either of them is ready to admit?<\/p>\n
The answer is contained in Kruse\u2019s fantastical farce, a play that also features a third wheel named Lars Larsen (Dinah Berkeley), not to mention Ole\u2019s fianc\u00e9 Lena (Lydia Moss), his sister Heidi (Taig\u00e9 Lauren) and his mom Holly (Rebecca Jordan), the last two being mother-and-daughter sex workers of the frozen northlands. There are also numerous sparkly appearances from aquatic creatures \u2014 namely Eelpout (the fully committed Jes\u00fas Barajas), who knows and feels more than you might expect from a freshwater fishy.<\/p>\n
There is an entirely Midwestern sub-genre, or niche, of rural ice-fishing plays, including \u201cGuys on Ice,\u201d which claims to be the world\u2019s first ice-fishing musical. And, of course, there are other plays where underwater creatures function as metaphors of projection and transformation, the surreal \u201cBig Fish\u201d being one. \u201cEelpout\u201d uses some of the same themes of male bonding and projection as it explores both the perils of masculinity and how friendship can cross over into previously uncharted territory.<\/p>\n
Jeff Rodriguez and Jes\u00fas Barajas (center left and right) and cast in “Eelpout!” by Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit. (Michael Brosilow)<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t say I felt the dramatic landscape was fully realized or credible, nor did I totally embrace the surreal metaphors cast upon the waters here, and the show doesn\u2019t exactly pulse with dramatic tension or carefully crafted comedy. Nor does Jeremy Ohringer\u2019s uneven production achieve a consistency of style (it\u2019s overplayed at times for the space), although that is far from easy with this script. That said, there are some lively performances, some creative staging and design ideas (costumes are by Delena Bradley), and Kruse\u2019s writing definitely has a poetic sensibility when it comes to themes of longing.<\/p>\n
There are some sweet monologues (asking questions like \u201cdid you ever feel you were born wrong?\u201d or musing on the fully comprehensible desire for \u201cthe deep, dark silence at the bottom of the lake\u201d) that suggest to me that once Kruse has exorcised the play of the talking fish, he\u2019ll have more to say about the human condition.<\/p>\n
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic<\/p>\n
cjones5@chicagotribune.com<\/p>\n
Review: \u201cEelpout!\u201d (2.5 stars)<\/p>\n
When: Through May 30<\/p>\n
Where: Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.<\/p>\n
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes<\/p>\n