A Fox on the Fairway
Oct. 31st, 2010 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxkloreToday's theatre outing was to see A Fox on the Fairway at Signature Theatre. This is a new farce by Ken Ludwig, built around a golf tournament between two country clubs - Quail Valley and Crouching Squirrel. The directors of the clubs have a large bet on the outcome of the tournament. There's also the tricky matter of the engagement between the new Quail Valley assistant, Justin, and the club's cocktail waitress, Louise. Justin is going to represent the club - but his composure is upset when Louise loses her engagement ring (which had been Justin's grandmother's). There's also the sort of sexual shenanigans among the older generation that show up in pretty much every farce.
The weakness of this play is that a lot of the humor is pretty much a rehash of every farce ever written. The gags involve people chasing one another through multiple doors, playing salugi with a valuable vase, and making drunken confessions of love that get broadcast over a PA system. The Crouching Squirrel leader, Dickie, does provide slightly more original humor in the form of mangled proverbs ("a bird on the wing is worth two in the air"). But the best running joke involves Louise's night school study of classical literature, leading her to treat the golf rivalry as a Homeric tragedy, complete with Greek gods taking sides.
As for the performances, most of the critics have called out Holly Twyford as Pamela, the alcoholic man-chasing vice president of Quail Valley. While she played the part well, I have to admit to not caring for that stereotypical female role. Meg Steedle, as Louise, was innocently appealing and made the most of the proclaiming the Homeric material. I'll also note Jeff McCarthy as Mr. Bingham, the Quail Valley president.
Overall, this is amusing enough but predictable. You already know if you like this sort of thing and you probably like it more than I do.
The weakness of this play is that a lot of the humor is pretty much a rehash of every farce ever written. The gags involve people chasing one another through multiple doors, playing salugi with a valuable vase, and making drunken confessions of love that get broadcast over a PA system. The Crouching Squirrel leader, Dickie, does provide slightly more original humor in the form of mangled proverbs ("a bird on the wing is worth two in the air"). But the best running joke involves Louise's night school study of classical literature, leading her to treat the golf rivalry as a Homeric tragedy, complete with Greek gods taking sides.
As for the performances, most of the critics have called out Holly Twyford as Pamela, the alcoholic man-chasing vice president of Quail Valley. While she played the part well, I have to admit to not caring for that stereotypical female role. Meg Steedle, as Louise, was innocently appealing and made the most of the proclaiming the Homeric material. I'll also note Jeff McCarthy as Mr. Bingham, the Quail Valley president.
Overall, this is amusing enough but predictable. You already know if you like this sort of thing and you probably like it more than I do.
