Nice Fish: A Play

by Mark Rylance, Louis Jenkins

On a frozen Minnesota lake, the ice is beginning to creak and groan. It’s the end of the fishing season and on the frostbitten, unforgiving landscape, two friends are out on the ice, angling for something big, something down there that, had it the wherewithal, could swallow them whole. With the existentialism of a Beckett two-hander but set in the icy and folksy depths of the Midwest, Nice Fish is a unique portrayal of a friendship forged out of boredom, bad jokes, and an ability to wait for a really nice fish. Nice Fish premiered at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge Massachusetts, directed by Claire van Kampen, and played to rave reviews in a sold-out extended run in New York in February 2016 at St. Ann’s Warehouse, starring Mark Rylance and Jim Lichtscheidl, and featuring Louis Jenkins. The play transferred to London for a run in the West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre, beginning in November 2016.

Genres: Plays, Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

Published October 17, 2017

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept - basically actor Rylance took a bunch of prose poems by Jenkins and fashioned them into a quasi-play. Some of it 'works' - a lot of it just sounds like people reciting poetry. Kinda reminded me of 'A Prairie Home Companion' - has the same Midwestern folksy quality. Fun fact - most people think Rylance is a Brit - but he grew up in Minnesota.

[Michael Meeuwis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, "written by Mark Rylance" one of those things you really shouldn't get excited about--like discovering that Nick Nolte has a range of jams or something. Sub-sub-sub Beckett existential meanderings; some nice observations throughout, but on the whole pretty needless.

[Mindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Mark Rylance as an actor and I could picture him perfectly in the role of Ron, voice and all. I like the prose poetry. Very interesting and something I wasn't familiar with at all. I'm not sure this play would've caught my attention though if it weren't for Mark Rylance.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my introduction to the poetry of Louis Jenkins. Came across it because I follow Mark Rylance and the work he's doing documenting the rages of the Homestead Strike in Pittsburgh. The poems, which make up the bulk of the text in the play, are supremely engaging and deceptively simple. It's easy to miss that they each and all contain life. Not "life" in the abstract i.e. "that was a lively evening" but LIFE. Where we are, what we are, what we were, who'll we'll be is all here in each poem presented with a Minnesotan's loving bemusement. Bad news is that every poem Louis Jenkins would ever write, has been written. But, they have been written.

[Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a play that is written in a much different way than I'm used to. Two old friends, Erik and Ron, go ice fishing at the peak when ice fishing season is about to end. Only, they don't just ice fish. Other characters, like the Department of Natural Resources officer, appear out of no where.
Without having much exposure to Midwestern culture, this seems to be very Lake Woebegone mixed with avant-garde theatre. I think reading some poetry by Louis Jenkins, the co-author of Nice Fish, will help to make more sense of the humor involved.