I love works that play with time, moving backward and forward through flashbacks and memories. I also love witty British mysteries. And I really love seeing works that succeed on the stage. So it was with high expectations that a friend and I went to see Friday’s production of Checkmate, Leslie Sands’ 1993 murder-mystery currently in production at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre.
A poorly written script isn't enough to derail the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Down to Earth. While I've never before thought "Too much exposition!" as much as I did during Thursday's performance, I still enjoyed director Joe DePauw's presentation of playwright Bettye Knapp's weak "comedy fantasy" about angels coming to Earth.
I wouldn't necessarily associate the titular "gourmet," which implies "high-quality" or "fancy," with the script for the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's 100 Lunches: A Gourmet Comedy. But the production is entertaining beyond its thin plot, the two-dimensional characters and situations are at least interesting enough to warrant continued attention, and although this is yet another play that could end at intermission and still leave audiences satisfied, the second act - despite boasting a wholly dissimilar tone - proves just as appealing as the first.
I quite like the tone of the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's More Than Meets the Eye, as director Joseph R. DePauw's production brings a natural feel, and a welcome lack of affectation, to a play that kind of screams for affectation. Instead of overplaying the plot's cross-dressing humor, Friday night's performance offered a softer, more realistic approach to its comedy that rendered the jokes more subtle, but still laugh-out-loud funny. Unfortunately, the laughs in author Fred Carmichael's play are, if not few, fairly far between (though when the jokes do hit, they're good ones), and it doesn't help that DePauw's pacing is a bit on the slow side, lengthening the wait between punchlines.
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.
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.
Imagine an episode of TV's The West Wing performed at half-speed, and underwater, and you may begin to approximate the experience of the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's opening-night performance of A Few Good Men.
