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There's just something appealing about mobsters in parkas.

A hitman somehow seems more human if he takes care to dress in layers. It's a principle already well established by the Coen brothers and their followers in the "Fargo" genre.

Now down that well-groomed snowshoe trail comes the Minneapolis-based Dark & Stormy Productions with its staging of "The Norwegians," which, just like "Fargo," has a misleading title. The four characters in the show have a combined Norwegian-heritage content of just 37 percent — though the Norway-related content of their  dialogue seems higher than that. As the lead hit man is fond of saying, Uff da.

What kind of gangsters can you find among Minnesota's Norwegian population? Answer: The nice kind. The kind who appreciate being referred to as hit people, instead of hitmen.

"We're the kind of guys you want to bring home to your mom," says one of the killers. "Depending on how you feel about your mom."

The story, by playwright C. Denby Swanson, is on the sordid side: Olive and Betty, two spurned women, take out murder contracts on their ex-boyfriends. On Betty's recommendation, Olive hires a team of Norwegian contract killers. The plot thickens like rommegrot when we learn that one of the killers happens to be  Betty's ex-boyfriend. 

Uh-oh, have I said too much? Not to worry. There's plenty more plot porridge where that came from.

In an intimate performance arena like Dark & Stormy's space at the Grain Belt Warehouse, one weak cast member might ruin the show. "The Norwegians" escapes that failing, getting strong performances from all four: Luverne Seifert (Tor), James Rodriguez (Gus), Sara Marsh (Betty) and Jane Froiland (Olive).

Rodriguez, especially, stands out as an essentially nice guy who just happens to make his living by applying a baseball bat to people's heads. Even when he admits that he enjoys his work, he seems driven by a sense of fair play and moral decency. His flaw is that he is only half Norwegian.

Seifert, on the other hand, is a full-blooded Norwegian who can't shut up about it. His Tor is the more menacing of the two mobsters, even though Gus is the one with a propensity for violence.

Directed by Joel Sass, "The Norwegians" is full of good moments in a single, 90-minute act. It manages to skewer many of Minnesota's most sacred icons, like hot dish, bad weather and "Minnesota Nice," without descending to outright mockery. 

"Here in Minnesota," says a weary Betty, "you've got to find a lover before the first freeze, or it's too late." If haste leads to bad choices — well, one can always call the Norwegians.

Arts and Culture

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Eric Ringham

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In "The Norwegians," Dark & Stormy rips the lid off Scandinavian organized crime.

A contract for murder, with lutefisk on the side

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