By Mark A. Nobles/special to the times-review
If you’ve been holding off going to the theater because you think it’s for stuffy old folks who drink their tea hot in little china cups instead of iced in a mason jar, then check out Plaza Theatre Company’s latest production. You will change your mind and laugh until your sides ache.
“See How They Run,” written by Philip King, is perhaps the most appropriately titled play in the history of theater. Most of the cast spends the better part of its time on stage darting and dashing about in a mad frenzy. This is slapstick at its best, and director Curt Mega has his cast moving at full throttle.
“See How They Run” is set in the living room of the vicarage in a small English town near the end of World War II. The play is a classic British farce with mistaken identities, escaped spies, pratfalls, a little too much drinking, unexpected guests and unrequited love. Think: the Three Stooges or Marx Brothers with silly British accents.
Darcey Farrington as Miss Skillion, the local church busy-body, is hilarious and spends most of the play being pulled, punched and tossed onto couches and shoved into closets by the rest of the cast. Danielle Beacham as Ida, the maid, has a young Jim Carrey ability to stretch and contort her body for comic effect. Curt Mega as the Rev. Lionel Toop tries his best to lend some dignity to the proceeding but is quickly disrobed, discombobulated and rendered mad as a hatter.
Holly Maddox as Penelope Toop, the good vicar’s fish-out-of-water American wife, tries her best to restore order to the madness around her and protect the good name of her husband. Kyle Adams plays Penelope’s old American friend and has most of the best lines and drinks most of the vodka.
Aaron Siler is the bull in the china closet and wreaks havoc and menace every moment he’s on stage. James Long as the elderly Bishop of Lax draws his best laughs with his utter inability to match the physical slapstick taking place around him.
Russell Walker as the mild-mannered Rev. Arthur Humphrey is the only understated character in the play, yet his bewilderment and mild-mannered performance is never lost amid the hubbub. Joshua Cating as police Sgt. Towers doesn’t appear until the third act but delivers perhaps the best punch line of the evening and somehow manages to sort everything out before the curtain drops.
The play is fast, funny and has the most interesting intermission you’ll ever see; just be careful where you step.
The good folks at the Plaza go out of their way to provide good, old-fashioned, relaxed family entertainment. Come as you are, buy some popcorn and a drink, put your feet up and prepare to laugh out loud and repeatedly. This is the next to last production before the Plaza moves to its new, expanded digs just up the street.
Be a part of something special, and find out what your neighbors are talking about. It’s no more expensive than a movie, and the action unfolds live, right before your eyes.
“See How They Run” plays through March 1 with performances Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For tickets, call the box office at 817-202-0600.
