Georges Feydeau, master of the farce, held it a central rule of comedy that if it would be disastrous for two characters to meet, they must be brought face to face as soon as possible.
Marc Camoletti’s 1960s farce Boeing-Boeing follows Feydeau’s rule to the letter. Rogue Theatre’s production of the cleverly plotted show gets lots of laughs, despite a few problems with script and presentation.
Bernard (John Fray), an American architect living in Paris, has what he considers the perfect amatory set-up. He juggles sex with three different flight attendants – the militaristic German Gretchen (Brooke Morgan), the jealous Italian Gabriella (Diana Bentley) and the sassy American Gloria (Kelly McCormack) – and each thinks herself his fiancée. Their airline timetables allow him to keep their visits well separated.
But the new Boeing planes are speedier, which threatens to screw up Bernard’s carefully organized life. With the addition of weather and mechanical problems throwing off flight plans, the women begin to appear with frightening unpredictability. Bernard has to rely not only on his housekeeper Berthe (Eleanor Hewlings), but also on his visiting friend Robert (Tim Walker) to help him keep the women from meeting each other.
Working in a difficult basement venue, director Jeremy Hutton skilfully orchestrates the action both verbally and physically, using six doorways to keep things flowing frantically, just as they should. The actors fill out their roles with athletic energy, often at high volume. That latter could have been turned down in the echoing performance space the sound level would work better in a larger, more open room.The first part of the second act drags occasionally, but that’s a problem with the writing, which feels like it’s spinning its wheels until, as the climax approaches, all three flight attendants start circling Bernard’s apartment at the same time.
The standout in the cast is Walker, the initially befuddled, then curious, then envious Robert, a shy man from Wisconsin who wants to emulate his booty-loving friend. Walker’s sense of timing and physical comedy are flawless. He also contributed a wonderful ad lib when, at one point, a braced doorway threatened to fall away – “Well,” he shrugged, cracking up the other actors, “you never know about this French construction.”
We’ve admired the actor’s work ever since we first saw him years ago at George Brown Theatre. Why isn’t he performing more on local stages?
Boeing-Boeing also marks the third production by Bentley and Morgan, who run Rogue Theatre. From the sly comedy of Deuce to the riveting and harsh relationship play Reasons To Be Pretty and now the slapstick farce of Boeing-Boeing, the company’s clearly on a positive trajectory. We look forward to see where their flight path will take them.
Haunting Hallway
Secrets lie behind every door in The Hallway, a script by Leah-Simone Bowen workshopped under Philip Akin’s direction last weekend.
The third and last in Obsidian Theatre’s 2011-2012 development series, The Hallway is set in a 1936 New York rooming house inhabited largely by black tenants and run by Mrs. Roachford (Karen Robinson), who apparently inherited the building from her white employer.
Her tenants include a young girl (Natasha Adiyana Morris) whose mother we never see a couple, Sara (Raven Dauda) and Neptune (Peter Bailey), who love each other despite financial and other problems and Lev Ivanovitch (Martin Julien), a Russian man with a shady past.
Andrew Penner and Karim Morgan provided atmospheric music for the workshop.
The characters are rich and engaging, even at this stage in their development. Sara, for instance, has been invited to perform in a new opera called Porgy And Bess that might tour to Paris, while Neptune was part of the Harlem Renaissance before an incident made him a recluse.
The play needs to fill out of some of the narrative threads, including Mrs. Roachford’s life under her employer, Neptune’s withdrawal from the world and the attraction between Sara and Neptune. It’s all there to be mined.
What’s already apparent is the strength of the relationship between Mrs. Roachford and Lev, drawn to each other despite her qualms. In the hands of Robinson and Julien, we root for them from the start.
Hope Obsidian will continue developing the show and eventually give it a full production.
stage@nowtoronto.com
