HOME PAGE SITE GUIDE REVIEWS FEATURES NEWS Etcetera and Short Term Listings LISTINGS Broadway Off-Broadway NYC Restaurants BOOKS and CDs OTHER PLACES Berkshires London California DC Philadelphia Elsewhere QUOTES On TKTS PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS LETTERS TO EDITOR FILM LINKS MISCELLANEOUS Free Updates Masthead Writing for Us |
A CurtainUp Los Angeles Review
Accomplice
The English country house set is reminiscent of Michael Frayn's Noises Off and so is the tone Holmes takes with his actors. There are twists and turns in every scene and this is a cast that knows how to slither through them. Act I begins with Janet and Derek skewering each other verbally in their cozy living room. The desperate housewife in a strapless black dress and high heels tries frantically to poison her spouse's cocktail. She succeeds. Or does she? As she covers Derek's corpse with a quilt, his hand shoots up and grabs her throat. Turns out this is only a dress rehearsal with her lover John for the crime they're planning later. After lots of lusty thumping and squealing under the quilt, John staggers off and Janet finds a tape recorder under the table on which Derek has totally captured every murderous word and thump. The scene is more than set for the next event and so it goes in every imaginable combination with quite a few surprises. Lisa Pelikan is deliciously lethal as she daintily trips around her living room, trying furiously to make that husband lie down and die. The elegance and sly stupidity of this character are exposed by Pelikan's portrait of Erica, the actress who plays Janet, in the play's second act. Life behind the scenes is no less lethal Each actor plays at least two roles. Larry Cedar's flair for comedy infuses everything he does, from the affected English actor to the harried American director. Samantha Raddock's role is unfortunately the clichéd dumb blonde, one we've seen a few times too many -- in Noises Off, Little Mary Sunshine and other productions ad nauseum. Raddock is an appealing performer and we wish her better luck next time. J. Paul Boehmer and Bart Del Gatto exhibit zesty comic skill that totally shifts the focus from their classic good looks. The Colony's Artistic Director Barbara Beckley takes the stage herself for an at once authoritative and mean cameo turn that demonstrates that the smiling pre-curtain speeches come from an actress with chops. Part of the fun, particularly in this town, comes from Holmes' allusions to show business. Erica's name is an homage to Erica Kane, Susan Lucci's soap opera character. We've all been to the performance space Larry Cedar describes admiringly with "When you walk into the theatre, you know right away what part of the room is the stage." In the Colony Theatre with its imposing rows of scarlet seats looking down on the audience as they come in, there's never any doubt.
|
Retold by Tina Packer of Shakespeare & Co. >Click image to buy. Our Review Mendes at the Donmar Our Review At This Theater Leonard Maltin's 2003 Movie and Video Guide Ridiculous!The Theatrical Life & Times of Charles Ludlam 6, 500 Comparative Phrases including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors by CurtainUp's editor. Click image to buy. Go here for details and larger image. |