THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 1, 1995 TAG: 9502280119
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
``Dying is easy. Comedy is hard!'' an old entertainer supposedly said as he breathed his last. Nobody dies, either in the sense of losing lives or having jokes fall totally flat, in the Virginia Wesleyan production of ``A Fitting Confusion.''
The young cast actually acquits itself adequately in one of the most difficult forms of comedy, a farce.
The need for pin-point timing, break-neck pace and unflagging commitment can make farce fatal to the inexperienced or the unwary. These performers show potential, and make their way through the pitfalls of Georges Feydeau's high-spirited script with enough verve to keep the show alive.
The plot is typical of the genre called French farce. The place is Paris; the time, a morning in 1900.
One Dr. Moulineaux is suspected of cheating on his new wife, Yvonne, when it is revealed that his bed was not slept in. Actually, he had spent the night on a bench in the lobby of their apartment house when he found himself without a key upon returning from a night out at a Follies show. Attempting to conceal his relatively innocent transgression of attending the Follies, he leaves himself open to more severe accusations.
Though innocent of adultery, Moulineaux had been trying to engineer an affair with a patient. That vacuous young woman, Suzanne, had not shown up for their planned 2 a.m. meeting.
The young doctor is soon faced with more than an angry and disappointed wife. His mother-in-law, the sharp-tongued, domineering Madame Aigreville comes to visit.
As characters appear, confusion multiplies. Monsieur Bassinet, recent heir to a nearby apartment house, rents what was once a dressmaker's place to the doctor for his assignation and rents the same flat to the mother-in-law, who wishes to live near her daughter.
Of course, Madame Aigreville comes to inspect her new apartment at an inopportune time, but that is the least of the mishaps that befall the would-be lovers. Assorted customers of the dressmaker arrive, along with Suzanne's slow-witted but violently jealous husband who wants to get a dress secretly for his own mistress. That mistress turns out to have previous connections with more than one of the other men.
Moulineaux is soon pretending to be both an Italian tailor and a French doctor, who makes dresses on the side, until deceptions and mistaken identities threaten to overwhelm everybody.
Ian Dewberry invests plenty of energy in his role of Molineaux, while Cynthia Badger and Tammy S. Dewberry as Yvonne and Suzanne are innocent and naive. Jim Keitel finds the basis of a funny character as Suzanne's husband, as does Steven Filer Munley as Bassinet.
Jeggan Grey-Johnson gets laughs as Molineaux's less-than-clever servant. In smaller roles, Nicole O'Bleanis, Merideth Plimley and Joan Vippolis show their competence.
The performance that stood out on opening night was that of Amy Insley, who bought a spark to her part as the mother-in-law. Experience and training could make her a comedienne of the first order.
Productions like ``A Fitting Confusion'' provide valuable experience for all who take part in them. The cast will doubtless learn much in this production, while having plenty of fun themselves.
The show was directed by Bentley Anderson, who also designed a pair of striking sets, and even choreographed the scene changes to have comic content. ILLUSTRATION: Clockwise from top left: Steven Filer Munley, Amy Insley, Tammy
Newberry and Ian Dewberry star in ``A Fitting Confusion.''
WHEN AND WHERE
What: ``A Fitting Confusion'' by Georges Feydeau.
When: 8 p.m., today through Saturday
Where: Hofheimer Theater, Virginia Wesleyan College, Wesleyan
Drive.
Tickets: 455-3200.
by CNB