Onstage: Grim and Fischer

By Rick Pender for CityBeat

The show’s title sounds a bit like a law firm, or maybe a grotesque vaudeville team. But it’s actually quite literal: “Grim” is Death (aka The Grim Reaper). And in this production that was a big hit in three sold-out performances during the 2012 Cincinnati Fringe, he meets his match in Mrs. Fischer, a tenacious elderly woman who’s nowhere near ready to draw her last breath.

Two actors wearing full-face masks enact a wordless tale, a hilarious showdown for survival that’s told with tenderness. So sensitive is the unspoken performance by Wonderheads Theatre from Portland, Ore., that people who attended during the Fringe swore that the masks changed expressions. In truth, it’s a demonstration of effective, basic storytelling using the simplest of means. The show is family friendly, suitable for ages 10 and up. $12. 8 p.m. Friday Nov. 9; 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday Nov. 10. Know Theatre, 1120 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine. 513-300-5669, knowtheatre.com.