Once in a while, you'll hear the Philadelphia Theatre Company criticized for "playing it safe"—choosing plays or casting actors that will fill seats, and sacrificing quality in the process. I will neither agree nor disagree with that statement, but I will pose this question: if PTC always plays it safe, how can you explain The Happiness Lecture?

The show, now in its final two weeks, can only be described as performance art. It's not laughable (though it is comedic), and it's not inaccessible (though it isn't at all straightforward), and above all, it's not at all what you'd expect from PTC. Full of vignettes exploring sleep and dreams, the show's title is a bit of a misnomer: the lecture itself, despite being attempted on several occasions, only composes a few minutes of the end of the production—and those moments are probably the weakest in the show.

Bill Irwin, who conceived and wrote the show and stars in it, is an undeniably talented physical performer. And he's joined onstage by some of Philly's finest: Jennifer Childs, Aaron Cromie, and Lee Ann Etzold, to name a few. Brilliant moments in the show abound, specifically any and all involving Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie, who almost had me fooled as that poor theatre board member who's stuck rattling off all the sponsors' names on opening night. Just when things start to seem a bit too rehearsed, the lights fade and you realize that she's a performer in the play, too. In a way, that sums up the show and its overall themes nicely: nothing is initially as it appears, nothing is predictable, and nothing is ever boring.

There are worse ways to spend an hour and a half.