items tagged with Cara DeMarlie

About two minutes into Thursday night’s performance of The Importance of Being Earnest, I panicked, knowing there were still two more hours of what had so far been – and seemed likely to continue to be – a flat, humorless presentation of playwright Oscar Wilde’s work. Fortunately, though, my fears were mostly unfounded, as the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre’s production improved as it progressed, and greatly improved with the arrival of the play’s female characters.

One of Joe DePauw's smartest directorial choices for the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's A Turn for the Nurse was to avoid camp. His cast doesn't play the crime farce for laughs and, as a result, may get more of them than they otherwise might've; to be sure, Saturday's audience was offering up laughter aplenty throughout the performance.
Read More About Will And Grace Notes: “A Turn For The Nurse,” At The Richmond Hill Barn Theatre Through July 18...

To my recollection, I haven't yet been formally introduced to frequent Richmond Hill Barn Theatre performer Jackie Skiles, who plays the lead in the venue's current mystery/comedy Busybody. But it's nice to know that we have something in common. In Skiles' program biography, she lists Lavinia Hubbard in 2005's Another Part of the Forest as her favorite Richmond Hill role to date. That was my favorite Skiles role, too. Until now.

You know a comedy is in trouble when its most engaging scene features an elderly woman's description of her escape from a German concentration camp. You know a comedy is in serious trouble when it uses that description merely to goose its tinny excuse for a plot.