The Nuns, By Eduardo Manet

When Manet’s Mother Superior dryly asks, “God, when will this nightmare end?” we wonder right along with him. The Nuns has all the essential elements of a nightmare—from absurdly morbid sequences with a circus flavor, to the audience’s voyeuristic pleasure. This dark comedy, set during the Haitian slave revolt of 1804, cloisters the three sisters in a basement, hatching a nefarious scheme to escape. Mother Superior (Robert Rosen), Sister Angela (Vincent Gracieux, looking more like Ernest Borgnine than any nun should), and deaf-mute Sister Inez (the sensational Steven Epp) wear their habits without qualification, falsetto, or wink-wink. The dialogue isn’t of notable merit—what probably is deep and existential in French is staccato and awkward in translation—but the strange dance of the characters (plus a corpse) is exquisitely timed physical comedy. As strange and jarring as this all is, it makes for an excellent post-mortem over cheesecake. If you like your nuns a little bit naughty, rent John Guare’s House of Blue Leaves. If you think the Marx Brothers would be more entertaining with a dose of gore and a blinking Madonna, this may be the show for you. Theatre de la Jeune Lune, (612) 333-6200