Andrea Brown, Chris Coculuzzi (photo by Dahlia Katz)
Not Old-Fashioned, Not Fluff
by Lucy Wells
Despite the strong winds last evening, I was more than pleased to make the trek out to the Alumnae Theatre to see their new production of Christopher Fry’s classic comedy. Written in 1948 but set in the year 1400, either more or less or exactly, it was so popular for a time that Margaret Thatcher’s speech-writers referenced it in one of her most famous addresses. It references Shakespearean comedy and is written in rather florid verse, but it has its own cheekily anachronistic style.
Right off the top, I really enjoyed the set. It is an elaborate stage, on several levels, with several doors and a large window to accommodate the many entrances and exits in this very physical comedy. Characters run in and out constantly, popping in and out of the window, hiding behind doors, jumping on the furniture, and in one case, scrubbing the floor; as this play unfolds in the same room throughout, it was nice to have a solid enough set that it could be used without wobbling!
+and+Chris+Coculuzzi+(Thomas).jpg)
