Playwright: Will Dunne. At: The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave. Tickets: www.thedentheatre.com; $25. Runs through: April 13
"These are stupid men, and there's nothing more dangerous than stupid men with a big idea!" we are warned. The big idea in 1876 is to steal Abraham Lincoln's body from its tomb in Springfield and demand ransom for its return. The stupid men are saloonkeeper Terrence Mullen, shipping engineer Herbert Nelson and counterfeiter Jack Hughes. Their new partner is ex-horse thief James Morrisseyin reality, a secret service agent named Lewis Swegles, assigned to infiltrate the conspirators by Captain Patrick Tyrrell, under an experimental law-enforcement program employing ex-criminals as informants called "ropers." The sole non-stupid man in on the scheme is cab driver William Nealy, drafted by Swegles as a supernumerary, who has the wisdom to flee at first opportunity and thus live to tell the tale.
The number of things that can go wrong with a plan cooked up by stupid men makes playwright Will Dunne's speculations thereon ( allegedly based in historical fact ) almost too easy. Before he commences his procedural, however, he acquaints us with the characters' individual quirksMullen's tavern sports a caged snake on the bar, Hughes harbors superstitious fears, Nelson chafes under anti-Irish prejudice that drives unemployed laborers to dirty deeds, Tyrrell believes in the inherent nobility of his profession and Swegles longs to share in the popular acclaim granted the righteous.
Oh, but as swiftly as the details of the heist are drawn upchoosing the date, gaining entrance to the crypt, unsealing the sarcophagus, concealing and transporting its contents, delivering the ransom note and the all-important division of the moneyunforeseen obstructions arise: Nelson recoils from grave-robbing, Tyrrell's guards must stand watch divested of their footgear, locks prove more stubborn and coffins heavier than expected. Most significantly, Swegles' moral compass begins to waver under pressure of his multiple identities.
Reverence for burial is a theme dating to classical tragedy, but when no permanent harm befalls either the living or the dead, director Ron Wells is free to showcase the ( literally ) ghoulish humor inherent in this stranger-than-fiction docudrama. The dialogue canters along at vaudeville pace rendering its progress safely comedic, and in doing so, allows us to track the evolution of our protagonistthat's Swegles, by the wayfrom hired snitch to protector of the late president's eternal rest. If his story's end is less lofty than anticipated, Nealy and Dunne ascertain that our hero's service to his country receives recognition as just and well-deserved as those of his ancient predecessors.