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NECESSARY LAUGHTER FOR TODAY’S WORLD |
UNNECESSARY FARCE |
In these difficult economic times, it is sometimes “necessary” to take a night off and just relax by attending a show where you can laugh your head off at the silly antics of an excellent cast, a clever script and a very creative director. That is exactly the experience I had last weekend at Desert Foothills Theater when I saw the Arizona premiere of UNNECESSARY FARCE. It’s a bit of a drive from East Mesa to Carefree but worth every mile! Good farce is not easy to write and even more difficult to direct but Swartz is a master at the lifted eyebrow, the double entendre and the slamming and closing of eight (count ‘em) doors. She has chosen a wonderful cast led by a pixie full of talent named Nathalie Cadieux (playing an inept policewoman, Billie Dwyer) who is supported by a lithe and comic Mike Duhame (as fellow cop Eric Sheridan) and pursued by newcomer to theater Rich Wales (as a gigantic Scot, accent and all). Billie also has to deal with Agent Frank (superbly brought to life by Roy Hunt) and accountant Karen Brown (well played by Jennifer Rio). In smaller roles there are Mayor and Mrs. Meekly (Tom Price and Janice Lombardos) who true to their name provide wonderful caricatures. These characters are all way over the top, as they must be in order to provide a believable farce. Playwright Smith is actually an actor who wrote this first play in hotel rooms as he toured the country in PHANTOM and the script shows his comic bent to a ‘T’. He is quoted as saying, “I wanted to write a play that I would be excited playing every role.” And they are indeed all very exciting. The plot is simple. A suspected corrupt mayor sets up a meeting with his new accountant while two police officers video tape the proceedings from the adjoining room. Sounds simple enough, but not when all the extraneous factors start to come into play. I will not try to describe the convoluted, hysterical action of this play because then it would be ruined but prepare to laugh till it hurts. Actually the beginning of the show is a bit slow (at least the night I saw it) but hold on – it gets better and better as the show goes on. And the main reason for that distinction is the tight, precise direction which Swartz gives it! Farce is probably the most difficult type of show to direct and this show in particular is doubly hard because of all the coordination of line and action it demands. The set (which was very well done and detailed down to the motel rules and directions on the wall) consists of two back to back motel rooms, identical except for a different quilt and painting on the wall. Petey Swartz is obsessed with details and it shows in the excellence of her show. On top of that she is so creative in her blocking and direction of ‘business’, for instance in the very first scene we meet Eric and through his tangling of the telephone wire as he also tries to dress, we know from the first moment that here is a bungling cop who will somehow mess up this assignment. Then there are dualized scenes where the exact same action goes on in both rooms at the same time. Only a director who rehearses her cast repeatedly and drills this complicated format into their beings can succeed so well. The show is almost complete pandemonium, but with Swartz’ sure hand it is controlled pandemonium and therefore never goes off the deep end. Of course, I guess every critic has to find one thing in a performance (no mater how excellent) to point out. I was just a bit bothered by the fact that the VCR and TV set on which the cops were taping the action in the next room was set down on the front of the stage on the floor. It was so low that I could not see it at all and did not realize what they were looking at for awhile. This could have been easily solved by placing it on a low table and would have improved that one minor problem completely. One of the funniest elements in the play is the author’s shtick about how the Scot gets angry and starts talking so fast that his Scottish accent cannot be understood at all. The joke is repeated over and over, but Swartz finds a new way to handle it every time. Another example of her director’s touch occurs when Eric and Karen come out of a clinch under the covers and realize they have each other’s glasses on. With shy smiles they switch – so subtle but so funny! There are so many other examples of great comedy that I could go on for a long time. Think bagpipes, switched identities, pratfalls – you name it: all the tried and true elements of great farce. Don’t just take my word for it – go see for yourself! |