Description: The story of a Belgian cabaret singer and his mostly silent accomplice who go searching for the Yeti at the North Pole.

First Produced: 2003
Date Added: 6/15/2011
Content Advisory:
Keywords: Comedy  Coming of age  Meta  Musical  Show biz  Brechtian  Surrealism/Absurdism  Mostly Male Characters  Small Cast Size 
1 Act, 55 Minutes
0 Females, 2 Males

NOTE: Nharcolepsy is fully protected by copyright law and is subject to royalty. All inquiries concerning production, publication, reprinting or use of this play in any form should be addressed to info@harringtonkauffman.com.

Original Production Information

Nharcolepsy was first presented by Harrington & Kauffman, as part of the New York International Fringe Festival in 2003 at The Red Room, with the following cast and credits:

Gustave: Richard Harrington
Nhar: Chris Kauffman

Director: Patricia Buckley
Lighting Designer: Elizabeth Greenman
Sound Designer: Chris Kauffman

Review by Jeff Lewonczyk

I never dreamed it would be possible to create a beautiful, warm, funny show about two men dying of hypothermia at the North Pole, but darned if the comedy duo of Harrington & Kauffman hasn't done it.

Their peculiar variation on the age-old template of the two-man comedy team is as bracing and indelible as the Arctic wind in which they perish. Richard Harrington's Gustave—whom we will hesitantly designate the "straight man"—is a stiff, soft-spoken Belgian cabaret singer who narrates the proceedings in a thickly accented deadpan. His partner is Chris Kauffman's Nhar, a sad-faced, rubber-limbed jack-of-all-trades whose voice is so hoarse he might as well be mute.

Together, they have spanned the northerly latitudes in order to follow Gustave's childish dream (or, as he says it, "shaldash drim") to meet the Yeti. Gustave reveals early on that due to the intense cold he and Nhar are drifting through the final, hallucinatory stages of their lives, and requests that the audience help them stay alive until the end of the show by pelting them with snowballs (provided upon entrance to the Red Room) whenever they get sleepy.

Surprise is the linchpin of comedy, so it would be rude to reveal too many details about their journey. However, audiences can expect: an illustrated lecture on the history of life on earth; several foolish songs, on such subjects as swimming in fjords, accompanied by accordion and zither; world-class silly dancing (choreographed by Abby Bender); an invisible Peugeot; and a number of scene-stealing toys. It is these toys that provide a nifty metaphor for the show: defiantly non-utilitarian, their very frivolity provides deep joy.

Directed with an eye for articulate detail by Patricia Buckley, Nharcolepsy delivers more laughs than a rubber igloo (whatever that means). And just as importantly, the show bears itself with grace, perhaps the most important element of successful nonsense. In a festival full of comedians grabbing attention any way they can, Harrington & Kauffman's nimble harmony is a reminder of how deep simplicity can be.

reviewed at the 2003 New York International Fringe Festival

Excerpt from Nharcolepsy

GUSTAVE

At this very moment, we are stuck in a blizzard twelve kilometers from the North Pole, with no hope of rescue. We are succumbing to the advanced stage of hypothermia: we feel very sleepy and warm, but our body temperature is dropping like a rock. Soon, we will be dead.

Nhar goes to console.

The good news is, you, mesdames et messieurs, you are not stuck in a blizzard at the North Pole. You are sitting in a theater in New York City, watching a show, 5,000 kilometers from the Arctic Circle.

And how is it possible, you may want to ask, this geographical discrepancy?

I’m so sorry, but there’s only one way to explain it: you do not exist.

Nhar and myself we are not here in the theater, therefore you also cannot be here, and thus you are a figment of our imagination, a joint hallucination as we fight off the final sleep.

But just because you are a figment, don’t sell yourself short! You are the audience for the very last show of our career. We have set these alarm clocks to wake up just for you, because we knew you would come, and we were not wrong.

Nhar falls to the ground and is motionless, as before.

Bon, now it’s a good time to explain about the little white balls.