The future is bleak—very, very bleak—in Noble Parasites, a far out, futuristic look at the shape of things to come at Theatre Passe Muraille until April 29.

Refulgent dark humour is on parade in the two tales of two malefic worlds that playwright Mike McPhaden pulls his audience into. Forget about peace, love, and happiness because it just ain’t here.

Noble Parasites is an after-and-before play carved into separate narratives—The Bookworm and Sea Change.

While the prior relives an amusing episode involving a trio of sub-surface dwellers on what’s best described as exam day for a young student, the latter catches up with a comical cabal where the balance of power resides in a closely guarded brief case.

Limericks, parasites, and prayers evolve from lost parents, politics, and plotting in superbly crafted narratives of betrayal and espionage.

It’s hard to say which Julian Riching makes you salivate more. He portrays a humorously sardonic elder in Act I then morphs into a not-completely-on-the-ball agent provocateur in Act II. How thrilling it is to see such acting range a single show. The same can be said for blond bombshells Amy Rutherford and Kate Hewlett who hit bold theatrical highs as willy nilly teacher and knowledge thirsting graduand and later desperate orphan and relentless emissary. In the end, it’s lip smacking good fun watching them all.

Observing Mike McPhaden add a smidgen of social and political commentary in the second half of the play goes to prove he operates on a much higher level than we were led to believe in Poochwater. One can only conclude there’s way more of that on the horizon in his future offerings.

Feeding off pure pleasure sensory, Noble Parasites is blissfully worth hosting.