Don't Dress For Dinner
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Here's a review of our current production: Don't Dress For Dinner...
Playwright Robin Hawdon took on the formidable task of translating Marc Camoletti's charming French comedy, whose English title is Don't Dress for Dinner, into English. A comedy, which is amusing in one language may be a failure when converted to another. Britisher Hawdon not only has brought this "Boulevard Comedy" to her native tongue; she has given us alliterations and puns, sparkling the play's language into a multi-faceted diamond.
The art of directing and acting in a comedy requires a sense of timing calibrated in nanoseconds. Director John Simonds has assembled a perfect cast for the task. Simonds and his cast team so well that each cue was met with a perfectly metered reply or look.
The plot is simplicity itself. Jacqueline (Connie DiGrazia) is leaving for the weekend to visit her mother while Bernard (Duane Weekly), her husband, is having a tryst, in their converted barn-home, with his mistress, Suzanne (Summer Collett). His friend, Robert (Kenn Burnett), who was his best man at his wedding to Jacqueline and currently her lover, decides to spend the weekend. Add that the caterer has sent over their best chef, a Cordon Bleu graduate, Suzette (Karina Montgomery). In the second act George (Phillip Tannenbaum), Suzette's husband enters into the confusion. Now wasn't that simple?
The story's twists and complexity of relationships, lies, and deceit drive the plot, compounding the layering, giving the audience an almost non-stop laugh riot. Weekly, playing a husband trying desperately to save a romantic weekend and his marriage, begins the constant din of duplicity. DiGrazia
plays the scorned wife with gusto. Her ability to maintain the duality of a wife who has a lover and a wife injured by her husband's having a mistress is in delightful balance.
Burnett, as the put-upon friend, yet lover of his friend's wife, also must maintain a balance. His role calls for dramatic shifts as he slides between his love interest and protecting his friend's romantic holiday. Collett gives Suzanne a special zest as the plot thickens and her role calls for a domestic side this mistress has never seen.
Montgomery's Suzette is exquisitely written and she takes advantage of every line. She does much more. Montgomery can merely do a double-take, cock her head a bit, even a bit of mime, and she creates a mood (and a laugh) that words alone could not evoke. She has natural comedic talent.
SRT's [sic] forte has been their realistic and carefully executed sets. Set Designers King and Simonds created a charming converted barn look and their crew of 16 made possible. This was further complimented by the set dressing crew. Eisele and Martinez II's lighting highlighted the set excellently. Glenn Lagman's sound was subtle enhancing the environment. Arleen Darden's
costumes worked nicely.
Don't Dress for Dinner offers some of the best ensemble acting we've seen this year. This is an award-winning production with an excellent cast working together bringing an amusing script to a high in hilarity. This is definitely a must-see comedy.
Caution Guidance : Sexual content
Cast : Duane Weekly, Connie DiGrazia, Kenn Burnett, Summer Collett, Karina Montgomery, and Phillip Tannenbaum.
Technical Staff : AD/SM - Chaike Levine, Set Design -Rosemary King & John Simonds, Lighting Design - Bob Eisele and Salome Martinez II, Sound Design - Glenn Lagman, Costume Design - Arleen Darden.
Critic :Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed: May 5, 2001
