Black Comedy @ Theatre Arlington
—Jan Farrington
If you keep the telly on late-night PBS or the BritBox channel, Theatre Arlington’s uber-English Black Comedy should be just your cup of tea. British playwright Peter Shaffer produced a decades-long series of “serious” plays such as Five Finger Exercise (1958), Equus (1973), and Amadeus (1979). But now and again, he tried something completely different.
Case in point: the farcical Black Comedy (1965), a “joky” idea reportedly born in a conversation Shaffer had in London with National Theatre bigwigs Kenneth Tynan and Sir Laurence Olivier.
What if (they said)…we put a room full of characters “in the dark” onstage, and let us watch them. How? The stage lights are actually on. We (the audience) can see everything, and they (the actors) have to make us believe they see nothing. “It’s all going to be brilliant!” said Olivier, and left young Shaffer to make it work.
He did. And so (even though I’m not the world’s biggest fan of farce) does Theatre Arlington, if all the snorts and laughter around me are any clue.
Director Sharon Kaye Miller sets a lively pace for the show. The laughs come easily (though some are eye-rollers), and the characters are mostly the right combination of real and exaggerated. Doing comedy is hard enough—but these actors also bring off believable British accents. It’s a treat to hear them.
Leading the cast is Micah JL Brooks as artist Brindsley Miller, who looks rather like a very young John Cleese, silly walks and all. “Brin” has swiped some major antiques from a fussy neighbor for the night; he’s trying to impress his new sweetheart’s father. (Jakie Cabe is purple-faced and hilarious as the irascible Colonel Melkett, with Alli Franken as his twittery deb daughter Carol.) Just for fun, a wealthy art collector (Kelley Garland) is coming to view Brindsley’s paintings.
Then the lights go out (but not really). Add one timid and wide-eyed neighbor, Miss Furnival (Hannah Bell, who seems to have a near-genius knack for farce—you can’t stop watching her), then an unexpected return by neighbor Harold (funny Micah Green is so gobsmackingly gay he leaves a glitter trail—how do the Brits get away with this stuff?), and an art-loving guy from London Electric come to fix the fuse (Andrew Nicolas as Shuppanzigh). And then, and then…Brin’s longtime (ex?) girlfriend Clea arrives (Jenna Anderson’s bright eyes promise trouble), full of mischief and ideas about hooking up with Brin again.
Let the wild rumpus start.
The show begins, ends (and “intermissions”?) with a fun selection of early-to-mid-‘60s British pop and rock classics that draw us back to those days. Bryan Stevenson’s two-level set design and Robin Dotson’s props provide plenty of opportunities for trips, pratfalls, perilous journeys up and down stairs—and a balcony that rains liquor. Ryan Simón’s sound design keeps us “seeing” even when we can’t, and kudos to light board operator Taylor Love, who (along with stage manager Maria Leon Hickox) had perfect timing all night long.
Circling back to Micah JL Brooks as Brindsley, he truly does terrific work anchoring Black Comedy to the classic farce tradition. His rubbery face and huge eyes are a perfect reflection of comic terror. And his long limbs, equally rubbery, are in constant motion: sneaking “unseen” between other characters, rolling in a somersault, creeping in and out of doors with priceless antiques, turning into a lamp. And in the “dark” he wraps himself in the posh, unruffled voice of an elegant British gentleman—no matter what’s actually going on around him.
Good stuff. Jolly good cast. Might need a spot of tea.
Iced tea.
WHEN: Through July 31
WHERE: 305 W. Main Street, Arlington
WEB: theatrearlington.org
