farce
This review will appear in the Feb. 11 print edition (with images, I hope)
Swinging Through London’s Doors
LCC’s Move Over Mrs. Markham farces it up
by Suzi Steffen
Last time I reviewed a farce, I led the review with a discussion of doors and how they should be used. That was Rumors at the Very Little Theatre, directed by Chris Pinto. Pinto must be into farces this season, for he’s at it again — and the doors work far better in this case — with the young actors at LCC in the British sex farce Move Over Mrs. Markham.
In Rumors, the set-ups of the first act paid off during an extended, inspired second-act monologue that Paul Hume Rhoden built into a towering fantasy of outrageous proportions. Though the whipped-up, goofy climax of Move Over Mrs. Markham, a late ’60s/early ’70s play by Ray Cooney and John Chapman, arrives with the collaboration of nearly the entire cast, it still relies heavily on the acting skills of one person — Melissa DeHart as Joanna Markham. Luckily, DeHart appears to know exactly what she’s doing, and she directs the traffic around her with the skill of a far older actor.
Read more after the jump!
This review will run in the April 3 print edition and also online here after April 3.
Pic of Herr Zangler (Michael Walker) and Melchior (Michael Watkins) by John Bauguess.
Wild Yawps, Whinnies and Props
On the Razzle dazzles the eyes and ears
By Suzi Steffen
Sheer, unadulterated fun: That’s the point, and the experience, of Tom Stoppard’s fantastic farce On the Razzle, now playing at the Very Little Theatre.
And a joyful experience the show definitely is — except for the part where audience laughter blows eardrums and overrides some of Stoppard’s trademark language. OK, the show’s not perfect (I’ll elaborate in a minute), but for a volunteer-run organization, the VLT has scored a coup in this arch but warm laugh-a-minute production. More than the successful staging of a nine-door, several-staircase, ridiculously pun-filled romp, this show gives the VLT’s community theater status a chance to shine.
