BEYOND THERAPY is funny!
Once again The State College Community Theatre provided its audience
with a good evening of entertainment. The show was a new one for me
so the outrageously funny lines were unexpected and made me laugh
until I hurt. I even found myself applauding the truth expressed by
these zany characters. Thank you director David Williams.
The
plot starts with Bruce and Prudence meeting in a restaurant. Each had
placed an ad in the personal section of the newspaper, hoping to meet
the person of his or her dreams. We learn that Prudence has serious
commitment problems and Bruce has a lover named Bob.
We
also get to see each of them during a weekly therapy session and two
more inept therapists would be hard to find. When we finally get to
meet Bob, the cast of lovable maniacs is complete.
The
casting was well done. Jonathan Hetler as Bruce was charmingly
vulnerable. His facial expressions could have carried the humor of
the play without his speaking one line. Val Harper played confused
Prudence with a quiet acceptance of the craziness around her so
nicely that her handling the gun in the second act was surprising.
(That is a deliberate teaser if you have not seen the show).
Nowhere
in the known world could there be any therapist like those played by
Eric Lindquist and Ellysa Stern Cahoy. “Sleazy” would be the word
that I would use to describe Eric’s Dr. Stuart Framingham and the
only word that I could think of while Ellysa was on stage as Dr.
Charlotte Wallace was “wacky”.
Michael
J. Tews gave us a Bob who went beyond “flaming”. His merely
getting on the couch in Charlotte’s office had the audience
roaring. Although we never saw or actually heard his mother, I
expected to see her during the curtain call. Matthew Jadlocki made
the most of the small part of the waiter. We probably will see more
of him as his history with SCCT has been very small roles.
One
of the advantages of moving away from theater in the round is the
chance to do real sets. Jon Vickers-Jones did his usual great job of
creating the right look for the show, but the length of time it took
for set changes bothered me. The tempo of this comedy was hurt by the
slowness of the changes. I hope that was fixed for further
productions.
This
is a hysterically funny play. You may not want to take the very young
or the very innocent with you, but if it is an evening of pure
entertainment you need, go see BEYOND THERAPY. It is beyond
funny!
Beyond
Therapy will be at
the Mt. Nittany Middle School until the 14th
of September. Call 814 234 SCCT for ticket availability or go to their website for more information: http://www.scctonline.org
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