The Joker and The Thief ★★★★

Last summer Dylan Kaeuper and Will Grice brought their first show, Cody and Beau, to Edinburgh Fringe. A most impressive debut, the play centered on two young, naive friends determined to make their way in the Wild, Wild West. This year Dylan and Will Theatre returns to the festival with The Joker and the Thief, and once again a friendship is the central focus, only this one’s in tatters.

Grice plays Sid Michaels, half of a former comedic duo who’s watched from afar as his former professional partner and close friend, Larry Langford, has successfully scaled the heights of show business. Larry has been invited to perform at the 1980 Edinburgh International Festival, with Prince Edward in attendance; Sid’s stuck doing Fringe, and has had a tough go of it in the five years since Larry unceremoniously dumped him and went solo. As the ominously named Howard Burden (Rufus Goodman, terrifically funny), Larry’s talent manager, puts it: “He makes millions. You make jokes.”

And not always good ones. The play starts with Sid doing a flailing set that Larry secretly watches, curious as to how his friend is faring professionally. Afterwards, Larry leaves a note inviting Sid to visit him backstage before his EIF premiere, and the rest of the play is set in real time, the 45 minutes in Larry’s large dressing room before he has to perform.

Polite awkwardness — Sid and Larry have not spoken in the five years since they split — is soon replaced by confrontations and revelations, and The Joker and the Thief reveals itself to be a Fringe rarity: a classically structured play. And that’s not the only pleasant surprise. This confident production is in so many ways — acting, story, production elements — a giant step forward for Kaeuper and Grice; the pair excitingly display an abundance of talent to support their artistic ambitions.

Most importantly, whereas Cody and Beau was clearly inspired by Xhloe and Natasha, acknowledged favorites of Kaeuper and Grice, The Joker and the Thief is a solid declaration of their own strong voices. Let them long be heard.