Playwright: Ferenc Molnar, adapted by P.G. Wodehouse
At: City Lit Theatre at the Edgewater Presbyterian Church, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr
Phone: (773) 293-3682; $18-$25
Runs through: Jan. 11, 2004
----------------------------------------
Ferenc Molnar's 1924 satire on the so-called 'well-made play,' as well as P.G. Wodehouse's 1926 adaptation of the same, ridiculed a literary style familiar to its audiences for over a century. Introduced by such now largely forgotten playwrights as Eugéne Scribe and Victorien Sardou, its conventions (whose influence is discernible today in the social dramas of Henrik Ibsen) had, by the second decade of the 2Oth century, grown stale and formulaic.
But this is 2003, and audiences know even less of the piéce bien faite than the character who claims acquaintance with Sardou only through his classic Hedda Gabler—UNLESS you count the silent cinema, whose producers looked to the stage for its source material. In an age before the development of distinct techniques for film acting, players accustomed to projecting emotions over 2,500-seat auditoriums were suddenly observable at the ultra-close range possible with cameras, resulting in the exaggerated gestures and facial expressions we associate with motion pictures of that era.
And therein lies City Lit director Terry McCabe's solution for rendering The Play's The Thing accessible to modern playgoers. While the text may hearken to an earlier period in its incorporation of the very stylistic elements it would mock—facilitated by the penchant of its hero, the successful play-maker Sandor Turai, for viewing life in theatrical terms—the artifice is heightened by the plot's focus on the rescue of a young actress from the attentions of a lecherous old matinee idol. Turai resolves the complications—in proper well-made fashion, of course—by means of a ruse involving the guilty parties displaying their histrionic prowess in all its overblown glory.
Deliberately replicating bad acting without spilling into the real kind is a slippery business demanding reserves of energy and discipline far beyond those required of mere GOOD acting. Veteran City Lit farceurs Page Hearn as the suave Turai, Will Schutz as his excitable sidekick, and Cameron Feagin as the affected lady-in-distress attack their roles with the stamina of marathon runners, however, followed closely by a supporting cast combining loony tunes-sized personalities and Old Vic-precise verbal agility, making for the perfect holiday romp.
FemmeTV at Lakeshore Theatre
The Lakeshore Theater presents The Lavender Cabaret's newest burlesque extravaganza FemmeTV beginning Friday, Dec. 5 at 10:30 p.m. This outrageous production takes audiences on a whirlwind tour through the world of cable TV with parodies of the genre's most popular shows, all re-envisioned with a slightly naughty twist. The Lavender Cabaret's FemmeTV runs the first three Fridays in December (Dec. 5, 12 and 19) and every Friday in January at 10:30 p.m. at the Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway.
FemmeTV employs elements of traditional burlesque girlie shows blended with parodies of cable shows, including Trading Spaces, Crocodile Hunter and cooking shows, plus saucy new versions of commercials. The ensemble includes co-founder and troupe leader, Miss Michelle 'Toots' L'Amour, as well as The Sugarbabies: Suzi Sparkles, Kiki Dumar, Natanya D'Vour, Leila Rouge and Jocelyn Boobies. The ladies ravish the senses with a flash of flesh, a hint of luscious leg and their tantalizingly traditional garters, lace, fishnets and heels.
Call (773) 472-3492 or online tix at www.tickets.com, www.lavendercabaret.com .
