Edgy British humor, 'Entertaining Mr. Sloane,' now playing in Bethesda

Matthew Aldwin McGee is Mr. Sloane (left), and Jim Jorgensen is Ed in Entertaining Mr. Sloane by Edge of Universe Players 2/Photo by Johannes Markus

The star of Edge of Universe Players 2's newest production, Entertaining Mr.Sloane, is the outstanding acting. 

The play is a "tragic-comedy" of dark British humor, written a half century before its prime.

On stage at the Bethesda Writer's Center are Claire Schoonover (Kath), Matthew Aldwin McGee (Sloane, who is also the fight choreographer), David Bryan Jackson (Kemp), and Jim Jorgensen (Ed).  They present a story of a young man temporarily housed with a woman old enough to be his mum, her brother, and their dad.  (Applause to Naomi Robin, casting director.)

The decaying family resides in a house beside a dump and once you know a little something about the British author, Joe Orton (1933-1967), that rubbish heap may be the society he lampoons.

Sex and murder are usually a winning combination, but they were not enough to quell outrage when Sloane opened in London in 1964.
 
In the company's mission statement, producer
William Goodman writes that Edge players "seek deep, long-lasting meanings that may improve the human condition." Literature, theatre, and reasoning play key roles in the infinite race to achieve "a better society."  Entertaining Mr. Sloan calls for examination of self, society, and legal structures, Mr. Goodman says.

David Bryan Jackson is the old man in Entertaining Mr. Sloane by Edge of Universe Players 2/Photo by Johannes Markus

Let's discuss.

Kath is starved for love and attention, captured in a prison by her crotchety dad and her manipulative brother.  When Mr. Sloane comes to call, she gladly welcomes him, showering him with warmth and desire. She becomes his "Mama," he, the baby, and also, the target of more than one character.

The playwright, Joe Orton, was murdered by his lover only three years after Sloane made its debut. The editor of the play's 50th anniversary edition, Emma Parker, writes in program notes that Orton, who grew up in poverty, began writing plays when imprisoned for six months for defacing library books (which are now actually preserved in British museums).

Orton believed his harsh prison term was due to his gay life and sexuality, and he set out with words to debunk middle-class society and mores. (Wikipedia notes the adjective Ortonesque is sometimes used to refer to work characterized by dark and farcical cynicism.)

  
Jackson (also, dialect coach) is superb as the ill and bumbling father with his Bernie Sanders flyaway hair,  thick, opaque glasses, and gait. He shifts his feet, looks askance, and stoops. Erik Teague dresses him in characteristically old man clothes with a sloppy open bathrobe and slippers, and puts little frilly dresses on Kath while Ed is straight up black and brown, nicely portrayed as one hungry to satisfy his own needs, like the rest of us. 

That there are no stumbles in the fast dialogue between brother and sister is astonishing. The audience laughs and gasps at lines which offended ancient audiences.  

Giorgos Tsappas's set design is spot-on. When drawn back, the curtains on a large window reveal nothing but a solid light blue wall (the sky?) which, with an outline in black of a tall heap of rubbish or coal pieces, would have added depth, but how do you illustrate society? 

The interior of the cozy house belies the neighborhood, and when one considers it, the occupants, as well.  

Sloane arrived about the same time as the anti-war,  anti-establishment movements began sweeping the Western world. We like to think of ourselves as more tolerant now, but are we?  

Continued enlightenment and messages about different lifestyles from yours and mine are always welcome and can help increase awareness and sensitivities.

Director Stephen Jarrett must be quite pleased with the production which warrants Helen Hayes nominations:

Best Actor: Jim Jorgensen 

Best Actress:  Claire Schoonover 

Best Supporting Actor: David Bryan Jackson

Other crew members are Marianne Meadows, lighting; Edward Moser, production manager and sound; Kevin Laughon, properties (the QEII on the wall was loved); Laurel VanLandingham, stage manager; Salima Seale, assistant stage manager; and Emily Morrison, publicity chief and graphic designer.

What:  Entertaining Mr. Sloane

When: 8 p.m., Thursday - Saturday, and 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday now through December 13, 2015

Where: The Writer's Center, 4508 Walsh Road, Bethesda, MD 20815

How much: Tickets start at $25

Parking: Plentiful parking is nearby (scroll to bottom of link) and it's free at some lots on weekends.

For more information: 202-355-6330

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An Olney holiday hit, 'Guys and Dolls'

Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Tobias Young) and the cast of Olney Theatre Center's production of Guys and Dolls. (Photo: Stan Barouh)

The Olney has done it again.

And just in time for the holidays.  

The Maryland regional theatre has produced another sparkling musical for all ages to enjoy with non-stop action, song, and dance.

What better entertainment for the whole family?

Miss Adelaide (Lauren Weinberg) and the Hot Box Dolls in Olney Theatre Center's production of Guys and Dolls. (Photo: Stan Barouh)

It's Guys and Dolls, all about gangsters, love (what is a story without love?), and lots of humor.  Throw in a wedding or two, and a wedding dress that puts icing on the cake.

"Luck Be a Lady,"  "A Bushel and a Peck," "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" are some of the familiar tunes you'll find yourself humming at show's end.  Why, just to hear the title of the last makes me want to kick up my own heels and try some of those fancy steps.  (Good luck.)

It might have taken the script a while to get the ladies out on the floor, but here they came, giggly and flirty, adding glitter to a performance you know is going to be a lot of fun.

Oddly enough, the stars of the show are the male dancers who leap, kick, jump, and split legs mid-air in unison while wearing suits.  Under the direction of Michael Bobbitt, these ice-skaters on stage draw shouts of affirmation and guffaws from the audience, smitten by flawless conformity.

Not to discount the happy quintet of female dancers and their chatter, but it's the men folk who carry off the wonders of them all.

The singing is exquisite, led by the soaring Jessica Lauren Ball whose voice could carry a gangster to heaven. Miss Ball  plays the stern and inflexible Sarah Brown whose hairstyle and apparel (with necks no lower than a throat clasp) match her name and persona. (Rosemary Pardee dresses the characters in 1950s garb.)   

Ms. Ball's co-star, Matt Faucher, is exceptional in voice and delivery as well, and bears a strong resemblance to actor  Fred MacMurray (1908-1991).
 
Paul Binotto is a convincing Nathan Detroit and with a name like that, you need explanation? Lauren Weinberg, Miss Adelaide, is his giddy girlfriend of more than a decade, a delightful combination of Marilyn Monroe and Gracie Allen,  George Burns' ditsy dame. 

Naturally, the law in the form of wrinkled, open trench-coated, crooked glasses Lt. Brannigan (captured realistically by Ron Heneghan) is hot on the criminals' trail, including Big Jule's (Richard Pelzman) whose size is enough to send Brannigan under or over the bridge.  (Early on, Pelzman's heft grabs attention when the cast lays out the story's tone, and he comes on stage, a blind man with stick.  Look out!)
 
One of my favorite characters, although it's a minor role, was acted by Valerie Leonard, the authoritarian and strait-laced General Matilda B. Cartwright until she's swept off her feet by circumstances and joins the action, at least, for the dance number. (The hair stylist is not listed in the program but deserves recognition for timely coifs.) 

Daniel Conway skilfully designed the backdrop to camouflage the onstage orchestra which blends in well with New York's night and day cityscapes and changing skies. 

Olney's orchestra seems to get better with each show.  Timothy Splain is the music director and Doug Lawler conducts seven while he plays piano. 

There is reason for that constant smile and good cheer from Olney's artistic director Jason Loewith and theatregoers know why.


Give the people what they want: big shows, lots of dazzle, good for all ages, live orchestra, and skip the obscenities, if you will. Thank you very much! 

Give me theatre or give me theatre, and that's all she wants for Christmas.


The ensemble and cast includes Andre Hinds, Ethan Kasnett, David Landstrom, Tony Thomas, MaryLee Adams, Evan Casey, Ben Cunis, Leo Erickson, Jocelyn Isaac, Amanda Jillian Kaplan, Julia Klavans, Nurney, and Tobias Young.

Other key crew members are Jerry Whiddon, director; Colin K. Bills, lighting; Jeffrey Dorfman, sound; Nancy Krebs, dialects; Josiane M. Lemieux, production stage manager; and Debbie Ellinghaus, managing director.

Although I have already nominated Olney's The Producers for Helen Hayes Awards, more Olney nominations are in order for these Guys and Dolls:

Outstanding Musical

Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical

Outstanding Director of a Musical: Jerry Whiddon

Outstanding Choreography in a Musical: Michael Bobbitt

What: Guys and Dolls: A Musical Fable of Broadway with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. Based on a story by Damon Runyon

When: (Update) Extended through January 3, 2016 at 8 p.m., Wednesdays through Saturdays, with weekend matinees at 2 p.m., and Wednesday matinees, Dec. 2, 16, and 23, one Tuesday matinee, Dec. 22 and no shows on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832

How much: Tickets start at $38, with discounts for military, groups, seniors, and students.

Duration: A little over two hours and one intermission.

Refreshments: Available for purchase and may be taken to seats.

Parking: Abundant, free, and on-site

For more information: 301-924-3400
 
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Bad Thanksgiving

Photo by Patricia Leslie

The last Thanksgiving we spent together as a family before my ex and I divorced was a memorable one which makes me laugh now when I think of it.

I cajoled and pleaded with my friend, Suzanne, to come over and join us and help lighten the atmosphere.  Things were pretty tense and unpleasant at our house, and we needed a non-partisan to join our table and spread something besides doldrums.

Suzanne did not want to come.  She had her own grown children to attend to, and I can't remember exactly how I convinced her to participate in our happy meal, but she arrived nonetheless, with apprehension and fear that she was entering a snake pit.


I used to always like starting up the Thanksgiving meal on Tuesday, getting out the china and silver, setting the table, walking through the yard and finding nature's pieces for the table centerpiece.  I spent all Wednesday and Thursday preparing the dishes, the turkey, and all the trimmings, accompanied by a bottomless mimosa which I drank all of Thanksgiving Day and still do on holidays.  They taste so good!

When it came time for our Thanksgiving meal that year, my soon-to-be ex passed the word to one of our children that he needed to work on the roof right then and there, and he would not be joining us to eat.

It was a sunny day, and heaven forbid, rain would fall eventually, and although we had no leaks, it was as good a time as any to pound nails in the roof.  

Over our heads in the dining room.  

While we ate. 

And celebrated relative harmony. Without both of us at the table, there was more opportunity for conversation and less likelihood for an argument, never a good item on the menu.

Photo by Patricia Leslie

I am proud to say we as a family are from the SEC, and if you don't know what that is, you don't know the SEC.  Anybody "up here" who thinks he or she has ever been to a college football game has never been to a college football game unless it was REAL college football, namely in the SEC (and especially Ole Miss and tailgates in the Grove).
Ole Miss and Arkansas, Nov. 7, 2015/ Photo by Patricia Leslie

We were mostly (or soon-to-be) graduates of the University of Tennessee, save for Suzanne a proud graduate (and cheerleader) at the University of Georgia which, that year, was on top of the SEC (before the East/West split.  Don't ask me).  Tennessee's football team that year (as in subsequent years) was in the toilet, and the subject, unfortunately, came up at the table, amidst the hammering heard up on the roof.  

While we ate. 

And raised our voices to be heard.

The sorry state of Tennessee football may have been discussed all of 30 seconds before my son, Robert, exploded, angry at Suzanne for having attended the University of Georgia. He jumped up from his seat, pounding his way up the stairs, hollering something, never to join us again.

Well! I thought.  And Suzanne may have thought the same thing.  Could she help it she went to Georgia long before Robert was born?

I don't recall any disagreements at the table with William, our youngest child, but I do recall thinking about our daughter's fiance, Daniel (U. South Carolina), who was visiting and sharing Thanksgiving with us.  

I wondered what Daniel thought about our family and why in the world he would want to be part of it, but he did.

In a little while, his fiancee, our daughter Melinda Jane (Virginia Tech), complimented me on a new dish I had prepared:  "This is good, Mom," she said. Praise from her was rare.

Oh, I said, I am surprised you like it, since it's an oyster casserole.

With that, she leaped from her chair, ran around the dining room table and into the kitchen where she hurled her mouthful of oyster casserole in the sink and gagged.

This is a true story.

A few silent seconds passed before Suzanne turned to me and said in a hushed tone:  "I think I'll leave now."  Who could blame her? 

Suzanne did not wait for pumpkin pie with real whipped cream.  She stole silently out the side door, happy to leave our mad house.  It was.

Soon, Daniel and William left the dining room table to go watch football and soothe Melinda Jane, recuperating from oyster casserole on the den sofa.

The hammering ceased.  

Alone at the table I sat, but a lifesaving mimosa stood nearby and that, with pumpkin pie and real whipped cream, puts a magnificent finishing touch on any meal.

From Google Images

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