17
Nov
2015
"Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of a man can invent." This Sherlock Holmes quote is a perfect description for the mystery play at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre - at least in terms of the lives of those on-stage. Just when you think things cannot get any crazier and the coincidences cannot get more coincidental, Ken Ludwig's script shows you otherwise. The Game's Afoot is a comedy with a mix of nutty characters and a whodunit theme, and while it was clear that the cast was still getting comfortable with each other and the script during Thursday's dress rehearsal, there were improvements in energy and confidence by the second act.
It doesn't happen often, especially if you attend a lot of local theatre - where the on-stage faces tend to become familiar ones. But every once in a while, you'll be at a production that you're really enjoying, and gradually realize that you're routinely focusing on one performer above the others - and asking yourself, with a grin, "Who is that?"
Described by the Chicago Sun-Times as "simultaneously hilarious and touching," the road-trip comedy Leaving Iowa is the final presentation in the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's 2011 season. Leaving Iowa is also the first presentation in Black Hawk College's 2011-12 theatre season, but don't chalk that up to either coincidence or some sort of Moline-based rivalry; the productions are actually one and the same.
The Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Make Me a Cowboy will appeal to anyone who likes pure, wholesome, clean-humored comedy that's light on plot and heavy on friendly cowboys and public-domain cowboy-themed songs. While that "anyone" does not include me, I at least recognize the earnestness in playwright and director Don Bailey Bryant's effort to present a decent show, and Make Me a Cowboy certainly made for a good time for Friday's audience, many of whom sang along to a good number of ditties and seemed pleased with the production.
Chris Walljasper isn't exactly a new face in area theatre, as the actor (and recent co-founder of Davenport's Harrison Hilltop Theatre) appeared in Genesius Guild's and Opera @ Augustana's Patience last year summer, the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story this past winter, and, most memorably, Carousel and A Year with Frog & Toad for Rock Island's The Green Room.
