The unusual layout of the room immediately catches the eye.  The theater is a black box, with two adjacent sides of the room filled with seats for the audience.  The other two sides of the theater form the “V” shaped stage, although it is not really a stage because it is not raised up; it is a performance area.  The show starts, and jokes are told, scenery is moved to frame certain parts of the stage, and accents are expertly employed by the actors.  Later, the audience is almost hypnotized for over 10 minutes with pure silence while a corpse is  moved all around the stage in what seems like a ritual.  In reality, this “ritual” is the embalming of a famous Russian leader.

Lenin’s Embalmers, a new dark comedy at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, is a historical play surrounding the rise and downfall of two men, Boris (Scott Sowers) and Vlad (Zach Grenier), who were chosen to embalm Vladimir Lenin, a Russian communist politician and revolutionary leader, in 1924.  Boris and Vlad know the stakes are high (they will be killed if they don’t succeed), but are being heavily pressured by the government to complete this never-before-done task that is almost impossible; these dangerous pressures make the play exciting from the start.

But, Lenin’s Embalmers is not all dark and deadly; a series of interwoven jokes keep the play from being too dreary.  The ghost of Lenin (whose real body remains on display in Moscow, Russia) walks around from scene to scene, commenting on the ridiculous frenzy made over the preservation of his body, and telling political jokes to lighten the mood.  Another funny aspect of this play is that all the women characters are acted by the same woman, and all named Nadia, so there is a constant and funny confusion as the actress has to announce which Nadia she is in a particular scene.

“Who is the hero of this story?” is a question asked throughout the play.  The “hero” title jumps from one person to the next, changing depending on the actions of a particular character.  This motif gives the story a supportive backbone from which the plot can excel.

The ending (without giving too much away) is at first confusing, because the time frame changes drastically, but it is ultimately thoughtful, and leaves you thinking about the story and the surprisingly dramatic lives of these historical figures.

“Lenin’s Embalmers” continues through March 28 at the Ensemble Studio Theater, 549 West 52nd Street, Clinton; ensemblestudiotheatre.org.

Check out playwright Vern Thiessen talking briefly about the show: