Courtesy of Michele Anliker pictures
A part of the attract of reviewing stay theatre is seeing the identical present staged at completely different venues—not essentially to check them, however to watch how the manufacturing evolves. Typically these variations are in dialog with one another, even complementing each other. So after I heard The Dio was mounting “The Play That Goes Improper,” a present I’ve seen twice earlier than, my curiosity peaked. This can be a notoriously bodily comedy the place props, set design, devices, and each shifting a part of a well-oiled manufacturing should, by design, go utterly off the rails. Mockingly, in The Dio’s newest model, every thing goes proper—and that’s very a lot a praise.
As a result of on this present, when every thing goes “proper,” it means you’re leaving the theater in stitches. For the uninitiated, “The Play That Goes Improper” follows the Cornley Drama Society (proud purveyors of previous productions like “James and the Peach” and “Cat”) as they try and stage the Agatha Christie-adjacent thriller “The Homicide at Haversham Manor.” Issues go off the rails nearly instantly.
It’s an excellent framework—basically an actor’s worst nightmare delivered to life. Think about stepping onstage to search out your co-star unconscious, or lacking a cue, or strolling by a door that’s fallen off its hinges. It’s additionally a dream playground for performers, and The Dio has no scarcity of top-tier expertise able to lean into the chaos. In a theater panorama the place “much less is extra,” the genius of Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields’ script is that it throws out the rulebook. It invitations actors to fumble by strains, break character, and threat (obvious) bodily hurt within the identify of comedy. And whereas the actors are by no means actually in peril, the phantasm that they is likely to be is half the enjoyable.
The eight-person ensemble rises to the event. Henry Ballesteros is nice and hapless as Trevor, the overwhelmed gentle and sound board operator who’s distraught over shedding his “Depraved” CD. Dylan Benson is clearly having a blast in a number of roles, frequently breaking the fourth wall with well-timed glances to the viewers that had me howling. Michael Cicirelli will get a ton of mileage out of taking part in the “lifeless” physique on the heart of the thriller. Kori Fay is a riot because the butler who can’t appear to recollect their strains. And Brendan Martin uncovers recent layers of hilarity as Inspector Carter, whose absurd sequence involving a ledger could have been the comedic spotlight of the evening.
Elsewhere, Ash Moran, making their Dio “play” debut, shines as Annie, the stage supervisor who’s compelled into the highlight after an onstage emergency. Their comedic timing is impeccable. Maggie Ringvelski is a pressure, at one level actually throwing her physique into the motion for fun—and absolutely incomes it. And Antonio Vettraino practically steals the present as a persnickety aristocrat with a recurring scotch bit that had the viewers, and myself, in close to shambles.
If I’ve any qualms, they’re with the play’s conceit somewhat than this manufacturing. “The Play That Goes Improper” calls for a large suspension of disbelief. Should you have been really attending a play the place the forged was fist-fighting, the stage supervisor saved interrupting scenes, and chunks of surroundings have been collapsing, the present could be shut down. The cops could be known as. However in fact, it’s all absurdist enjoyable, and the exaggerated chaos is a part of the appeal.
Not one of the insanity would land with out Matthew Tomich’s meticulously designed set, which should run with breakneck precision. Director Steve DeBruyne, at all times a dependable hand with slapstick and bodily comedy, clearly drew inspiration from the Three Stooges—and it reveals. Eileen Obradovich deserves a standing ovation for creating the countless array of props this manufacturing calls for. Particular shoutouts go to Norma Polk for costume design and to Jen Pan and Joe Wright for his or her work as struggle and intimacy coordinators.
The Dio enhances the expertise by immersing the viewers proper from the beginning. A hilarious “director’s be aware” from the top of the Cornley Drama Society sits at every desk, and the actors mingle in character whereas dinner is being served. It provides one other layer to the comedy, particularly if you notice that, for instance, Brendan Martin performs each Inspector Carter and Chris, the egotistical artistic director of the Drama Society. The viewers will get to look at each how Chris envisions “The Homicide at Haversham Manor,” and the way he melts down as his present goes utterly off the rails.
All of it provides as much as a raucous, gut-busting evening on the theater. “The Play That Goes Improper” was by no means meant to stay within the emotional pathos of a Neil Simon farce. However when it’s staged with the precision, dedication, and chaos it calls for, it leaves a long-lasting impression. As I overheard somebody say within the rest room after the present: “My abdomen hurts from laughing a lot.” I feel everybody within the viewers, myself included, would agree.
THE DIO’s manufacturing of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG continues by Could twenty fifth. Tickets are extraordinarily restricted and most reveals are bought out. All tickets embody a 3 course dinner with non-alcoholic beverage. They are often discovered right here.