by dick kerekes dickkerekes@yahoo.com
The Douglas Anderson School of the Arts did three performances of Philip King’s l946 farce See How They Run. I wanted to see this show and review it, as this seems to be the year for farce in Jacksonville. In the twenty-five years I have been reviewing plays, I cannot recall a weekend when three plays of this style and genre were on the boards at the same time. Rumors is at Orange Park Community Theatre, Leading Ladies at Theatre Jacksonville, and now, of course, See How They Run.
This play was presented on the London stage when the Brits really needed a lift and a laugh, having gone through all the bombing in WWII. The play is sixty years old and still funny and charming today.
Most farces start off slowly and the plot seems probable at the start, slowly building to what is always a rip-roaring finish. Director Michael Higgins, assisted by assistant student directors Niki Dreistadt and Diamond Lott, used a different approach. With the opening curtain: Bang! This show hits you in the face with very broadly played comedy.
The setting is the home of a vicar. The Reverend Toop has a visitor in his living room, church member Miss Skillon. At the same time Toop’s wife, Penelope, is singing at the top of her voice, off-key at times, making her husband and the audience irritable.
Penelope is American and a former actress. While her husband is out for the evening, Clive, an old acting chum, drops in to visit. They decide to go see a performance of Private Lives. Clive, who is now an American soldier and cannot go out in uniform, dresses as a vicar.
The real madness begins when they arrive back home. Eventually four men, dressed as vicars, are running about. The army uniform is lost and the procession of mistaken identities begins.
Since this is a British play, all the actors use accents, which, for the most part, were very good due to help of dialect coach Bonnie Harrison. Clarice Diers, who played Ida, the maid, had the most difficult task since she had to use a cockney accent, which is very foreign to American ears, and it is difficult to understand. I have seen My Fair Lady a dozen times and I still don’t understand Eliza Doolittle as a cockney flower girl. Ms. Diers played the maid like a wind up kewpie doll and was very funny.
This script gave all the characters a chance to hold the spotlight for many moments of outrageous humor. Ash Saunders as Reverend Humphrey, a visiting vicar, was especially funny while drinking an imaginary glass of sherry. Justin Freeman was the old man of the bunch as the important Bishop of Lax, but soon he was romping around in his pajamas without his toupee. Austin Miniard was a hoot as Sergeant Towers; with his giant fake moustache he truly looked like a Keystone Cop. Ms. Hudson was impressive as a meddlesome biddy who could not hold her liquor.
Greylyn Paluszynski, as Penelope, and Cameron Frew, as her soldier friend Clive, had great chemistry together, a great stage presence and they did most of the frantic running in and out. I was winded just from watching them. Cole Marshall played an escaped Russian spy who also wound up dressed like a vicar. Chris Sibson, as the proper Reverend Toop, spent much of the night wandering around in his underwear with a concussion.
Director Higgins used every comic trip ever invented, with actors encouraged to overact, mug the audience, and use broad and exaggerated gestures. I cannot recall ever seeing a play with so much physical comedy. Actors were diving off the porch, tumbling over couches, throwing each other in the air and hop-scotching all over the stage. It looked like a Three Stooges comedy and the audience responded with long and loud applause and cheers. The incredible timing of entrances and exits by the performers impressed me. I was exhausted at the end of the evening and I am sure the actors were as well.
Kudos to the great set by Nolan O’Dell; the English rectory home was picture-perfect. The costumes appeared to be accurate for the most part, although the Army guy was wearing a vintage l969 version, but who could notice in all that traffic?
I always enjoy going to Douglas Anderson School of the Arts to see a play. They are always professionally produced and the talent is always exceptional. Thanks for a fun evening of brilliant comedy.
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