It’s a dark and stormy night in the small Midwestern town of Big Cherry when the weekly City Council meeting is called to order in Tracy Letts’ compelling, thought-provoking new play “The Minutes.”

Having missed the previous meeting because of his mother’s death, the Council’s newest member, Mr. Peel (Noah Reed, best known for “Schitt’s Creek”), is curious why another member was unceremoniously removed. 

No one will discuss the matter with him although several other topics are open to bantering, bickering and backstabbing – like building a handicapped-accessible fountain in the town square, the proper disposal of dozens of confiscated bicycles, and the proposal of a ‘Lincoln Smackdown’ in which a martial-artist dressed as Honest Abe would fight challengers in a steel-cage match.

“Democracy’s messy,” intones the avuncular Mayor Superba (playwright Tracy Letts).

Then, suddenly, somewhat inexplicably, several Council members, including the Mayor, stoic Clerk (Jessie Mueller) and quirky, scene-stealing Council veterans (Austin Pendleton & Blair Brown), spontaneously perform an absurdist re-enactment of the 1872 Battle at Mackie Creek at which, according to local legend, settlers battled bloodthirsty Sioux Indians.

Although this episode bears a remarkable resemblance to the 1956 Western “The Searchers,” perhaps Big Cherry  got the mythology of that tarnished ’origin story’ wrong – at least according to the daughter of Native American survivor who was interviewed by the recently banished Council member, Mr. Carp (Ian Barford), a potential whistleblower.

Given the impeccable ensemble casting and astute direction of Steppenwolf’s Anna D. Shapiro, this subversive, slyly satirical exploration of small-town bureaucracy slowly but surely explodes into somewhat surreal historical revisionism and collective guilt.

Best known for his Tony & Pulitzer Prize-winning “August: Osage County,” actor/playwright Tracy Letts’ anarchic, 90-minute allegory is inventive and incisive, skewering the Council’s self-serving incompetence and corruption, epitomized by the burying of antiquity in a manner not dissimilar to recent ‘critical race theory’ events in Texas and Florida – although this play debuted in Chicago back in 2017.

David Zinn’s detail-perfect set recreates mundane municipal chambers throughout the country and the sanctimonious mood is amplified with familiar patriotic marches and punctuated by Brian MacDevitt’s effective lighting. 

“The Minutes” has a limited engagement at Studio 54 – 254 W. 54^th St. – through July 10.

If you like brawling, bloody brutality, head for “The Northman,” Robert Eggers’ intense Nordic nightmare.  Eggers’ previous films – “The Witch” (2015) and “The Lighthouse” (2019) – blurred the boundary between fantasy and reality, so it’s not surprising that this Viking revenge saga follows suit.

Written in collaboration with Icelandic author Sjon (“Lamb,” “Dancer in the Dark”), it begins as 10 year-old Prince Amleth (Oscar Novak) runs to tell his mother, Queen Gudrun (Nicole Kidman) that King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke) has returned.  

That evening, harking back to their feral wolf ancestors, young Amleth, wounded Aurvandill and the wild-eyed holy man Heimir (Willem Dafoe) journey to a cave where they engage in an intoxicating pagan ritual that induces howling and vivid hallucinations. 

Later, while walking with Amleth in the forest, Aurvandill is ambushed and assassinated by his brother Fjolnir (Claes Bang). Vowing vengeance, Amleth hides from his uncle, eventually escaping to Iceland.

Years later (914 A.D.), a witch (Bjork) reminds now-adult Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard) of his fate. Then he’s captured and brought as a slave to Fjolnir, now married to duplicitous Gudrun who begat another son.  Complicating matters, Amleth has fallen in love with clever captive Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy).

If you’re into Icelandic folklore, you’ll recognize that Amleth is the Viking name for Hamlet, thus heralding this viscerally violent Scandinavian inspiration for Shakespeare’s tale. Historically, Amleth’s story can be traced back in “The History of the Danes.”

The dialogue is banal – apparently, Vikings weren’t very articulate – so Eggers and his DP Jarin Blaschke concentrate on violent, medieval mayhem.  To achieve authenticity, production designers worked overtime, replicating ancient carvings and creating costumes of nettle, reindeer leather and the outer coats of Icelandic sheep.

One of the recurring thematic images is the sacred Tree of Kings, based on the giant ash tree Yggdrasil – central to Norse mythology. It’s fashioned from human veins and hung with the dead bodies of warriors.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Northman” is a savage, supernatural, often silly 6, playing in theaters.

Occasionally – thankfully, not often – survival stories are so lame and ridiculous that one wonders why and how they were ever green-lit for financing and production. “The Requin” is one of those.

The saga begins as Jaelyn (Alicia Silverstone) and Kyle (James Tupper) arrive for a much needed getaway at a luxurious tropical resort in Vietnam, even if it is ‘off-season.’

Whining Jaelyn is still suffering PTSD from a recent trauma in which she lost their newborn during a home-birthing attempt gone wrong. “The baby didn’t have a heartbeat,” Kyle reminds her, “so she didn’t have a chance.” 

Hoping to assuage Jaelyn’s feelings of guilt, Kyle paid extra to secure an overwater bungalow with stunning panoramic views. Yet when they decide to take a quick swim, Kyle cuts his leg on some coral. 

Nevertheless, as they settle into their quarters, a horrific monsoon develops. While  wind batters the walls, their floating villa becomes separated from the flimsy wooden bridge connecting it to the beach and drifts off into the sea. 

So they’re totally stranded. Jaelyn is frantic since Kyle’s bloody leg is now badly infected, eventually attracting ravenous sharks. Before the sharks appear, however, there’s a jump scare involving a school of fish and another involving a dolphin.

Although Vietnamese-American writer/director Le-Van Keit (“Furie”) works with cinematographer Matt S. Bell to utilize every scenic advantage of their supposedly exotic location, the result – filmed mostly at Orlando Studios in Florida – is disappointingly formulaic, and the cheesy shark CGI reeks of carnivorous cost-cutting.

FYI: ‘Requin’ describes tropical sea sharks, characterized by a nictitating membrane (transparent third eyelid) and a tail fin in which the upper lobe is larger than the lower.

On the Granger Gauge, “The Requin” is a tediously paced, disappointing 2 – relegated to Redbox kiosks and streaming on Vudu, Prime Video and Apple TV