England

4th Wall: The depths of ‘Heights’

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By John Lyle Belden

November’s chill extends the desolate feeling of the Halloween season, a perfect time to indulge in the haunting story of “Wuthering Heights,” presented by 4th Wall Players in Irvington.

Founding member Alan Keith has adapted Emily Brontë’s gothic novel by taking a keen scalpel to the complex story of life and death on the Yorkshire moors of northern England in the late 1700s. His focus is on the dysfunctional, tragic relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and the orphan Heathcliff, with sufficient other adult characters to tell the story.

Katie Endres plays housekeeper Nelly Dean, whose role as narrator in the novel is reflected in her being a mainstay throughout the play, witness to all while unable to affect the course of events. Her compassion helps us to care for the damaged souls she serves.

We open with a series of scenes to establish the upbringing of siblings Catherine (Sarah Powell) and Hindley (Albert F. Lahrman III), along with Heathcliff (Alec Cole), whom Mr. Earnshaw (Stephen Taylor) found in Liverpool and raises with his children. From the start Catherine and Heathcliff become devoted to one another, enraging Hindley, who, upon returning from university to take over Wuthering Heights after their father’s death, banishes Heathcliff to the servant’s quarters. Hindley and his wife Francine (Isabel Moore) are continually abusive, which – on top of a boyhood humiliation at the hands of Hindley and neighbor Edgar Linton (Luke Proctor) – fuels Heathcliff’s simmering desire for revenge.

As for Catherine, she is to become Edgar’s bride. Overhearing her telling Nelly she must accept the proposal, Heathcliff sees this as betrayal and leaves. He returns, three years later, as a gentleman – but his intentions are not gentle as he seduces and marries Edgar’s sister Isabella (Ellie Hooven).   

Emotions and unresolved angst are heavy as the mist upon the moors, where ghosts will walk when this story is done.  Note this drama also contains violence, abuse, and suicide.

The cast portray a whole catalogue of psychological issues. Cole gives a poignant portrayal of a person so focused on vengeance he cannot accept the successes of his life, instead sacrificing them as tools towards his dark vision of justice. His blend of wronged hero and conspiring villain evokes both pity and fear. As for perpetually immature Catherine, Powell gives us the girl who wants both the adventure of Heathcliff and reliability of Edgar, without fully committing to either. Playing with others’ emotions wears on her own, critically endangering her health.

Hooven is exceptional as a woman caught in the middle of these dark doings, bearing up as best she can, her only redemption being in survival.

As for men who could have been so much better people, Lahrman gives us a Hindley so used to having to demand respect, he squanders his inherited moral high ground with his anger and addictive vices.  Meanwhile, Proctor’s Edgar is the man who would be rather dashing and happy in an Austen novel – alas, this is Brontë, and here his airs come off as spineless, doomed to find only misery.

An excellent edit of a classic story, “Wuthering Heights” has three more performances, Friday through Sunday, Nov. 14-16, at The Backlot Theatre (formerly Stage Door), 5635 Bonna Ave., Indianapolis. Information and tickets at 4thwallplayers.org.

Wild Wilde comedy at Buck Creek

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By Earnest Bunbury John Lyle Belden

Buck Creek Players takes on a classic comedy tackling issues of identity within a strict society, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which playwright Oscar Wilde cheekily called “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.”

The subtext was hardly trivial for Wilde, with this well-received 1895 play coming out shortly before his infamous legal spat that had him imprisoned for homosexuality (a crime in Victorian Britain). For BCP, director Mel DeVito sought to enhance the comedy’s queerness with cross-gender casting.

Amanda McCabe said that when she auditioned, she had no idea she would become Jack “Earnest” Worthing. “I believe Wilde would have loved this,” she said after a performance. DeVito agrees, adding, “I just wanted to see Ben (Jones) in a dress” – which he is as haughty mistress of manners Lady Augusta Bracknell. Judy Lombardo plays both the servant parts, one as male and one female. Paige Scott, whose past roles include a trans character in “Hedwig,” portrays a rather distinguished clergyman, Dr. Chausable.

We open at the home of Algernon Moncrieff (Aaron Beal), where Earnest (McCabe) has come to woo his cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax (Brittany Magee). Our suitor wins her heart, but not her hand as Aunt Augusta, a/k/a Lady Bracknell (Jones), forbids their union, considering the young man’s rakish reputation and apparent low birth.

Mr. Worthing has two more complications: Gwendolen insists she will only marry a man named “Earnest,” and Algernon has found the proof that is not his name. As for the latter, cynically jovial Algernon finds it amusing that his friend also enjoys “Bunburying” – named for his habit of avoiding responsibilities by going to visit his non-existent “invalid friend” named Bunbury. Worthing says his double life lets him be serious “Jack” around his ward, the beautiful young heiress Cecily Cardew (Kielynn Tally), and “Earnest,” Jack’s younger more fun-loving brother, elsewhere.

The plot twists and thickens when Algernon goes to call on Cicely, introducing himself to governess Miss Prism (Tracy Herring) as Earnest. This thrills the girl, who always wanted to marry a man by that name.

As Lady Bracknell says later, coincidences are very unseemly. Wilde’s pen seemed not to care.

The casting and sharply delivered performances bring out all the fun and make the satire relatable, including obliviousness to hypocrisy, vice as virtue, and women’s thoughts in diary form being a sort of official record of social life. McCabe embodies Jack/Earnest with dashing charm and Chaplain-esque nimbleness. Magee and Tally both play wily and smart, especially when the young women have the upper hand over their “Earnests.” Beal plays Algernon as a smooth cad, yet ever likable.

Jones commands the stage, perfectly blending a stern Victorian matron and a no-nonsense drag persona. Lombardo speaks volumes with an eye roll. Herring gets moments to shine when her small role becomes more integral to the denouement. Scott is subtly wonderful, even while Chausible is perplexed but willing to re-christen adult men.

For a fun old “trivial comedy” as you’ve never seen it before, “The Importance of Being Earnest” has one more weekend, Friday through Sunday, Sept. 12-14, at the Buck Creek Playhouse, 11150 Southeastern Ave., Indianapolis (Acton Road exit off I-74). Get tickets and info at buckcreekplayers.com.

4th Wall takes on transformative tale

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By John Lyle Belden

Newer theatre companies often look to past classics to show their stuff, and thus 4th Wall Players present George Bernard Shaw’s comedy, “Pygmalion.” The story is more familiar in its adapted version, the 1964 film musical, “My Fair Lady.” However, there are some differences (and no singing) in the original play.

Waiting under the shelter of a building during a rainstorm, we meet most of the characters we will see throughout the coming five acts (configured to two). Expert linguist Professor Henry Higgins (Josh Gibson) shows off his ability to know, after hearing a few spoken words, what town in England one is from – and practically to the street within London. Mrs. Eynsford-Hill (Alyssa Lay), her grown son Freddy (Jericho Frank) and teen daughter Clara (Olivia Taylor) are wildly impressed, as is Colonel Pickering (Joshua Minnich), who is actually there to meet Higgins. The Professor’s mother (Ryley Trottier) is less impressed. On the other hand, a poor flower girl, Eliza Doolittle (Mallery Beard) is at first frightened by this man writing down every word she utters, then becomes curious at his saying, offhand, that if she spoke a better dialect she could be off the street and running her own shop.

Later, Eliza gathers her courage and goes to Professor Higgins to ask for diction lessons. Though extremely mocking and condescending, Henry makes a bet with Pickering that he can improve her speech and manners enough in six months to pass her off as upper-class. The Colonel graciously pays for her needs, including new stylish clothes. Higgins’ servant, Mrs. Pearce (Emily LaBrash), kindly takes charge of making Eliza – put on edge by all this attention – clean, presentable, and as comfortable as possible.

While learning from blunt and verbally abusive Higgins, she gets encouragement from Pickering, who Minnich plays as such a perfect gentleman, we have no problem believing the character is older than the actor without the need for heavy makeup. She also has the example of Pearce, whom LaBrash plays as wise enough to stand up to the Professor to verbally spar without taking his words personally or crossing an argumentive line. Trottier gives us the hero of this story, her Mrs. Higgins helping make this project work while tempering her mannered resolve with necessary empathy. Frank provides as much as Freddy’s narrowly-written role allows as the young man who saw Eliza’s beauty when she was a flower girl, a secret he keeps while professing his love for her as a lady.

In an interesting turn, we are confronted by Eliza’s father, Alfred (Stephen Taylor), a drunken layabout who senses an opportunity in this situation.  

For Eliza Doolittle herself, Beard is inspiring in her taking on what could have been just a Cockney caricature and breathing life into it, then feeling Eliza’s way through changes and uncertainty, evolving in speech, manners, and inner character until the final morning-after makes it all clear.

We also meet Kathryn Paton as Countess Nepommuck, a socialite inspired by Higgins’ instruction to teach manners and English to others, who thinks she has figured Miss Doolittle out. Lacy Taylor nicely serves up roles as a Taxi-driver and Mrs. Higgins’ parlor maid. The cast also includes Benjamin Elliott (bits include a rather attentive policeman) and Tracy Fouts.

“Pygmalion” gets its title from an ancient story of a sculptor who falls in love with one of his creations – which sounds more like the 80s movie “Mannequin” than “My Fair Lady.” In fact, since Shaw first penned the play, many have wanted – over his objections – to definitively romantically “ship” Henry and Eliza, like a modern fanfic, rather than deal with a more nuanced ambiguous ending. Gibson’s portrayal of Professor Higgins seems to erase such suspicions; his character is intriguing because the arc is flat – he alone never changes. His desires are never romantic or even sexual, just a regular companion with whom he can engage in conversation or other cerebral intercourse, and to blazes with any other humans. In the man’s unshakable ways, as well as when he fails to note his genius falling short, we see a clear reflection of the way others adapt to the events of the plot, as well as providing a solid canvas on which the narrative paints its satire.

Perhaps it is apt that the actor’s real-world wife, Katherine Gibson, directs this production. In bringing all the various characters splendidly to life, she lets Shaw’s dry wit shine through. About the only broad comedy is in Taylor’s wildly Cockney rantings as Mr. Doolittle, which serve in their own way to skewer the British class system with his enjoyment of being “undeserving” and railing against “middle-class morality.” Still, throughout the play the laughs are there, especially if you pay attention.

Unfortunately, one potential distraction is that shortly before the play opened, the Stage Door Theatre’s air conditioning broke. 4th Wall have acquired a portable AC, set up fans, and among the free refreshments (donations welcome) are frozen ice pops. Still, it would be advisable to dress light and exercise understanding.

Remaining performances of “Pygmalion” are Friday through Sunday, June 27-29, at Stage Door, 5635 Bonna Ave., Indianapolis (in historic Irvington). Get tickets and information at 4thwallplayers.org.

Footlite gets ‘Kinky’ in the best way

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By John Lyle Belden

With among its many lessons that you should be willing to pull together to try something wild with great potential, the all-volunteer cast and crew of Footlite Musicals present the fun and funny hit, “Kinky Boots.”

With book by Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein and songs by equally iconic Cyndi Lauper (making her the first woman to win a Tony for solo songwriting), the 2013 Broadway musical is adapted from the 2005 British film of the same name, in turn inspired by a true story from the 1990s. Set in that 20-ish year ago era in Northampton, England, a man who has inherited a failing shoe factory seeks to save it by filling an unmet need – sturdy but sexy boots for drag queens.

Charlie Price (Alexander Bast) had planned to move to London and take a lucrative marketing job alongside his fiancé Nicola (Nicole Sherlock) but is called back home when his father (Ted Jacobs) passes away. The shoes are well-made, but in a highly competitive market, nobody seems to want them. While seeking to strike a deal with a family friend (Derek Savick-Hesser) Charlie encounters Lola (Kevin Bell), the drag queen star of her own show. He notices her stilettos won’t hold up a man’s body and, after Price & Sons employee Lauren (Mara Fowler) – who secretly has a crush on him – suggests he find “an underserved niche market” to stay in business, gets the idea to make what will be known as Kinky Boots.

Reactions are mixed at the factory, though most buy in as the alternative is unemployment. Factory manager George (Ryan Bridges) is eager and creates a steel-reinforced heel. Foreman Don (Drew Kempin) considers himself a “man’s man” and openly mocks Lola, who is brought on board as designer. In three weeks, there will be a major fashion show in Milan that will make or break the enterprise, as well as the people involved.

We also meet, in the opening number, Charlie and Simon (who will become Lola) as boys, played by Sam Houghland and Ryan Thomas, respectively, as well as Simon’s disapproving father (Jerry Davis).  The cast includes Shari Jacobs, Awbrey Brosseit, Jessica Hackenberg, Logan Laflin, Louis Soria, Ruby Waliser, Jennifer Zotz, and Tom Zotz, who also cameos as Richard, Nicola’s boss.

Lola is backed by her cloud of fabulous Angels, performed by drag artists Conner Becker-Chamberlin, a/k/a Darcy Sparks; Leon Benbow-Blomberg / Miss Dominixxx; Caleb Francis / Penny Loafers; Cameron Grant / Anita Richard; Shawn Hunt / Artemis Da Goddess; Dalen Jordan / Donleigh Delights; Paige Penry / Bella DeBall; and Kenan Tinnin / Body Miss Morphia.

Joyfully directed by Jerry Beasley, we get a (much-needed these days) uplifting story of grit and acceptance. The characters are fairly complex – not just the obvious multitudes in Lola, brought out in glorious voice and expression by Bell. Bast gives us a Charlie who is well-meaning, sometimes off-base, yet easy to root for. Kempin’s Don is mostly bluster, a bloke who literally gets sense knocked into him. Sherlock plays Nicola as one who feels certain of her direction, coming to learn that Charlie doesn’t see success her way. Fowler makes her regular young woman Lauren, who goes from slinging shoes on a factory floor to being “executized” to help make the new line,   appropriately adorable.

Among the volunteers putting this spectacle together are set designers Ted Jacobs and Mary Lich, choreographer Thomas Mason, vocal director Ben Rose, and stage manager Melissa Yurechko. Costumer for the queens is Angel Olivera, assisted by Katie Van Den Heuvel and Michael Morrow. Jeremy Kaylor leads the orchestra.

EDITED TO ADD: Beasley messaged me this – “I would like to add that Claire Olvey Slaven also costumed The Angels as well as assistant directed, and Ben Jones created their hair and makeup look! The Price & Son workers costumes were designed by Edith Burton-Bandy.”

As a counter to current controversies, we get a reminder that for its community Drag is not just a lifestyle, but an essential part of life. Let the spirit of “Kinky Boots” raise you up, and remember: “You can change the world, when you change your mind.”

Performances are Thursdays through Sundays through May 18 at Footlite Musicals, 1847 N. Alabama St., Indianapolis. Get tickets (which have been selling fast) at footlite.org.

Southbank: Seeing ‘Red’ in Black and White

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By John Lyle Belden

American-born actor Ira Aldridge was the first man of African descent to play the lead role in Shakespeare’s “Othello” on the London stage in 1833.

(The tragic character Othello, as most know, was a Moor, dark-skinned from African heritage. But especially as he is the title role, even when Black actors were available in England he was always played by a White man in blackface.)

The play “Red Velvet,” by Lolita Chakrabarti, presented by Southbank Theatre Company, is about this and more, taking measure of a complex and controversial artist with particular emphasis on one of his many milestones.

We open and close the play in 1867 with Aldridge (Daniel Wilke) on what would be his final tour of Europe, performing “King Lear” in Lodz, Poland. We learn he has been a celebrity throughout the Continent and in the U.K., where he also managed a theatre. Turning 60, he is impatient, blustery, and forbids any press interviews (we’ll understand why later).

A young Polish reporter, Halina (Hannah Embree), manages to make her way into his dressing room, talking the actor into taking a few questions. Feeling her to be impertinent, he then sends her away. However, the memories have been triggered, and our scene switches to London, more than 30 years earlier.

During a sold-out London production of “Othello,” famed actor Edmond Kean, in the title role, has collapsed on stage and will never tread the boards again. Theatre manager Pierre LaPorte (Brant Hughes), a friend of Aldridge, sees a chance to make theatre history. Politically progressive company member Henry Forester (J Charles Weimer), who also supports the demonstrations against slavery in the British Empire raging at the time, likes the idea, but fellow thespians Bernard Ward (Doug Powers) and especially Kean’s son Charles (Matt Hartzburg) – who plays the Moor’s murderous rival Iago – do not.

It is argued that the British stage is for escapist fantasy, where a regular (White) person can pretend to be something he is not. This form of stark realism, Ward remarks, is as absurd as a real simpleton playing Caliban or a real Jew as Shylock. Still, LaPorte is adamant and the show goes on, with Aldridge baring his natural face.

While the men seem to fit archetypes one would expect to see in a story of shaking up things in a treasured institution, the women each take an intriguing perspective.

Ellen Tree (Liz Carrier), like the tragic female lead Desdemona that she plays, seems caught in the middle. She must act opposite Aldridge, the focus of this controversy, and she is the fiancé of Charles Kean, who threatens to walk out in protest. Her allegiance is to the company, and she seems intrigued by this American’s approach to the play and its characters. Wilke and Carrier, like the actors they portray, skillfully present themselves as professionals rehearsing a married couple who must stand close and touch each other as they are bonded by love and destroyed by jealousy. Is that all we see? Neither they nor Chakrabarti’s script under the direction of Donna McFadden give us an easy or definitive answer.

In a role of sublime subtlety capped by the profound moments when she finally speaks her mind, Kendall Maxwell is exquisite as the servant Connie. Just her presence at the back of the room – standing in contrast to the man of color who is treated as a peer and equal to the others who only see her as little more than a tea-serving automaton – speaks volumes.

Rachel Kelso plays Aldrige’s wife, Margaret, casually trusting and true to her famous husband. Her understanding helps buoy our feelings for Ira Aldridge, who in turn expresses genuine affection for her, especially when she is no longer with him.

Embree is also impressive, giving us a character having to power through her own issues in a society determined to limit her.

Also, in the 1867 scenes Weimer amusingly plays a randy German stagehand, while Powers is Aldridge’s longsuffering personal assistant.

Hughes delivers a sharp performance as one struggling to keep both a career and a friendship without losing both. His character’s Frenchness makes him a sufficient outsider to be the catalyst of change, still, he’s all (show) business for his role in these events.

We come to find in the play’s title an aspect of Aldridge’s life’s arc. He recalls peering through velvet curtains as a boy to see his first plays; as an adult, he dons a crimson velvet cloak as the Moor. (Just one of many excellent costumes by Karen Cones.) Turning convention on its head, in preparing to play the aging King, he applies greasepaint to lighten his skin.

A reflection and commentary on racial and gender discrimination that has us considering how much has truly changed, and what it has taken to change it, wrapped in an intriguing portrait of a historic individual, “Red Velvet” has one weekend of performances left, Thursday through Sunday, May 1-4, at Shelton Auditorium, 1000 W. 42nd Street, Indianapolis (Butler University campus).  Get info and tickets at southbanktheatre.org.

‘Dracula’ stalks Garfield Park

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By John Lyle Belden

Garfield Shakespeare Company is taking on a couple of classics outside the Bard’s folios, including the 1920’s adaptation of “Dracula,” by Hamilton Deane (who was authorized by the Bram Stoker estate) and John L. Balderston.

The play makes some small changes from the novel and sets the story in the ‘20s so that Count Dracula arrives in England overnight by airplane rather than in the hold of a cursed ship. Otherwise, things look eerily familiar.

We open with the events of Stoker’s story already in progress. Mina died in recent weeks of a strange sort of anemia, and now Lucy Seward (Kyarah Love) is weakening from a similar condition. Her father, Dr. Seward (Banjamin Mathis), is perplexed and worried – and further stressed by the rantings of Renfield (Derrick Krober) a troublesome patient in his sanitorium.  Lucy’s fiancé, Joan Harker (Tess Smith), shares Seward’s concern and both have given their blood in transfusions to help sustain her. A new neighbor from eastern Europe, the nobleman Count Dracula (Christopher O’Hara) has also taken an interest.

At Dr. Seward’s request, his friend, the well-travelled scientist Abraham Van Helsing (Aaron Collins) arrives to investigate the cause of Lucy’s malady. We can tell he has an idea of the answer but must ascertain all the facts and ensure that all are ready to accept what he must reveal. Also on hand are the dutiful maid, Miss Wells (Sydney Engelstein), as well as the orderly Butterworth (Jake Hobbs), who has his hands full keeping Renfield in his locked room. Cuthbert, the plush mouse, plays himself.

GSC member Cheri Walker-Owens makes her directorial debut. Cheyenne Henson is stage manager, whose crew includes two – Miranda Khoury and costume designer Ella King – who become thralls of the vampire. Also vital to this production are fight director Chris Burton and especially intimacy director AJ Stannard, considering all the “necking” going on.

The well-paced story acknowledges that the audience already knows what is going on, with the characters steadily figuring it out with only about a scene’s worth of necessary disbelief once Van Helsing reveals the facts. The growing dread as Dracula stays steps ahead of his pursuers is amplified by the genius casting of O’Hara, whose tall frame, cinema-perfect look, suave manner, and mesmerizing baritone voice had us wondering if the Count himself had auditioned.

The gender swap of Joan (for Jon) Harker is barely noticeable as Smith is fierce, her character’s devotion being both shield and weapon against the unnatural foe. For his part, Collins gives an action-hero air to Van Helsing, constantly inspiring the others. Love only plays Lucy passive at first, giving her more range of feeling and a sense of internal struggle as the stakes become clear.

You likely know the story, but it’s something else to see it performed right in front of you, on a fairly small stage level with the seating on three sides. And you can’t beat the price – free! – but contact gscindy.org to reserve your seat. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, April 24-25 & 27, at the Garfield Park Arts Center, 432 Conservatory Drive, Indianapolis.

‘Wrong’ goes right at the IRT

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By John Lyle Belden

One of the great ironic tricks of theatre is that it takes true professionals to portray clumsy amateurs in a way that delivers side-splitting comedy. This we get from Indiana Repertory Theatre with “The Play That Goes Wrong.”

This was a U.K. and Broadway hit by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer, who apparently spend their time in London making other stage genres and classic stories “go wrong.” The script invokes the spirit of Murphy’s Law, in that practically every prop will break or fail and every conceivable mistake can and will be made – combined with a determined “the show must go on” attitude.

This appears to be the Indianapolis premiere, though there were productions last year in Bloomington and Carmel (we reviewed those as well, in case this looks familiar).

To ensure that everything goes perfectly catastrophic, the IRT Margot Lacy Eccles Artistic Director, Benjamin Hanna, directs. The cast includes a couple of the players from last autumn’s “Spelling Bee,” Brent Mutter and Dominque Lawson, and two local masters of physical comedy, Rob Johansen and Claire Wilcher.

The play takes place in England at the Cornley Drama Society’s opening night of “The Murder at Haversham Manor.” The whodunit’s director (Eric Sharp), who also plays the detective, is grateful to finally get a production under way with a full cast, once the technical director Trevor (Ryan Hallahan) and stage manager Annie (China Brickey) are set. The mystery starts from opening curtain with the victim Charles (Johansen) lying on a chaise at center stage. Entering, despite a stuck door, are his best friend Thomas (Mutter), his brother Cecil (Lawson), fiancé Florence (Sarah Coakley Price), and the butler Perkins (Wilcher). Was this murder? Detective Carter arrives to determine it was, and everyone is a suspect.

Of course, this Agatha Christie-style story is constantly upstaged by things falling and failing all over the place, nothing where it’s supposed to be, and cleaning fluid in place of the stage-whiskey. Add to this some superb bad acting, such as Lawson’s comically broad gestures resembling bad attempts at sign language, or Wilcher’s need to have key words written on her hand – and always mispronounced.

Things get even more bizarre when Florence is accidentally knocked out and Annie, script in hand, must immediately take her place, going about as well as you’d expect. Eventually, Price and Brickey are two concussed, dueling Florences fighting for the spotlight.

Throughout, this is a masterpiece of mayhem. The non-stop hilarity surpasses even favorite farces like “Noises Off,” with chaos comparable to Monty Python or The Marx Brothers at their manic best.

Credit goes to Christopher and Justin Swader for the hilariously hazardous stage design.

“The Play That Goes Wrong” runs through May 11 on the mainstage at IRT, 140 W. Washington St., in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. Get info and tickets at irtlive.com.

What a ‘Web’ they weave in Westfield

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By John Lyle Belden

Quick warning for arachnophobes: Main Street Productions has placed numerous toy spiders (some quite life-like) around the Basile Westfield Playhouse. Guess how many there are (fill in a form during the first intermission) to win a prize. However, (ironically) there are none on the stage.

Count on Agatha Christie to weave an entertaining tangle of intrigue, mystery, and humor – we get all this and more in “Spider’s Web,” presented by Westfield’s Main Street Productions, directed by Jan Jamison.

The setting is a big house in the English countryside (of course), Copplestone Court in Kent, in 1954. While Henry Hailsham-Brown (Kevin Caraher) is away on business for the British Foreign Office, his young and highly imaginative wife Clarissa (Phoebe Aldridge) spins tales and plays tricks on whoever is around. In this case, it’s her former guardian Sir Roland Delahaye (Syd Loomis), his old friend Hugo Birch (Jim Simmonds), and young friend Jeremy Warrender (Jeff Haber). Clarissa also cares for Pippa (Ava McKee), Henry’s school-age daughter from his first marriage who is still fragile after the bitter divorce.

The servants on hand are humble Elgin (Thom Johnson) and his wife (unseen), as well as Mildred Peake (Molly Kraus), the gardener who is quite the busybody and suspicious of everyone. An unwelcome visitor, Oliver Costello (Matt McKee), the new husband of Pippa’s mother, stops by. Also, this being a murder mystery, we will soon meet Inspector Lord (Larry Adams) and Constable Jones (Erin Chandler), with an audio cameo by Greg Vander Wyden as the Doctor called to inspect the body.

Along with the corpus delicti, we also have a rather interesting antique writing desk and the presence of a “priest hole,” a short passage to the library disguised by a bookshelf. And a deck of cards. And a volume of Who’s Who. So many details, in fact, that Clarissa spins a number of stories about the events of the evening, confounding and frustrating the Inspector as we work through the various clues to find who did the deadly deed, and why. (Observant viewers can work it out before the climax, this clueless reviewer nearly did!)

Aldridge is wonderful as the fanciful and well-intentioned lady of the house (Wendy notes that this play could have been subtitled, “Clarissa Explains It All”). Loomis has paternal charm in his supporting role. Kraus eagerly takes on quite an interesting character herself as one who is and knows more than she lets on. Adams makes an interesting sleuth, though the frustrating nature of this caper could make Inspector Lord glad that Christie called on other detectives for most of her stories. Seventh-grader Ava McKee makes a nice stage debut as imperiled Pippa.

The wit is sharp with physical humor and a bit of Pythonesque absurdity. It almost qualifies as a comedy – except for, you know, that body behind the sofa.

This humorous whodunit has four more performances, Thursday through Sunday, April 10-13, at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St. (note there is some road and building construction in the area). Get tickets at westfieldplayhouse.org.

Civic gets ‘Curious’ with story of mystery and maths

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By John Lyle Belden

One nice thing about the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre production of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” (by Simon Stephens, based on the Mark Haddon novel) is that instead of a realistic looking dead dog in the middle of the stage, there is a chalk-outline style silhouette – with the garden fork stuck in it. Can’t avoid that detail as the dog, Wellington, is indeed dead.

But this play isn’t really about the dog.

The canine crime, however, is what starts Christopher Boone, a teenager in Swindon, England, who is definitely on the autism spectrum but specific diagnoses are not mentioned and irrelevant as long you understand he’s just different, to start writing his very detailed “book” on this curious incident, to aid in his investigation of the apparent murder.

So, what we see are the events of Christopher’s (Ozzy Heath) writing, also being the play that his teacher Siobhan (Jean Childers Arnold) encourages to make of it with the help of community actors (Lisa K. Anderson, Matt Anderson, Lukas Robinson, Rex Wolfley, Kennedy Morgan and Carrie Andrews Reiberg). It does appear that Christopher’s father Ed (Eric Reiberg) and mother Judy (Afton Shepard) play themselves, but that might just be us sharing his memories. Everything will add up, though, as Christopher is exceptionally good at “maths,” as the British call them.

The first act involves the quirky pursuit of justice for Wellington, which leads to a rather upsetting discovery. In the second, resolving a new mystery means taking on the most horrific challenge of Christopher’s life – the London Underground subways.

Jay Hemphill directs this production that helps deliver Christopher’s unique perspective through image projections and the other players acting as various characters, barriers, and at several moments, choreographed chaos. The neurodivergent think in straight lines and simple facts, but the world around us is mazes and metaphors.

Lebanon high schooler Heath does an excellent job of expressing that perspective, complete with a respectfully accurate presentation of the boy’s tics and quirks. Showing this person so honestly helps us to empathize and cheer him on.

Arnold’s Siobhan is that favorite teacher we either fondly remember or wish we had. She obviously understands working with students like Christopher and making him feel respected and, in this curious context, normal. Contrast this almost too good to be true character (perhaps because seen through the boy’s eyes) with his parents, neither of whom would be named Britian’s Mom or Dad of the Year.

Reiberg and Shepard each play their roles with a brutal honesty in which they see where they slipped up, finding themselves needing and willing to do the work to restore the most important and fragile thing in Christopher’s world – trust.

This story has lots of humor and persistence and compassion in a demonstration that seeing things through a different way of thinking can lead to amazing insights. And in the end, you will cheer the answer to an A-Levels maths problem!

Christopher doesn’t mind tight spaces, so we see “The Curious Incident” in The Studio Theater at the Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Carmel, through March 29. Get tickets at civictheatre.org or thecenterpresents.org.

Betty Rage lets us in on a secret

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

Betty Rage Productions presents the longest-running stage play, Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap,” in cooperation with The Scottish Rite Valley of Indianapolis, at Indianapolis Scottish Rite Cathedral, directed by the company’s original “Betty,” Callie Burk-Hartz.

The quirky whodunit opened in London in 1952, around when the play is set, and has been performed perpetually since (except for a break for Covid). For the second time in recent memory, this fun mystery plays in Indianapolis, with the hope that all who see it keep to the long-standing tradition to reveal to no one its secrets, including who “dun” it.

As the radio gives a bulletin about a brazen murder in London, near Paddington, Mollie and Giles Ralston (Hannah Embree and Charles Weimer) arrive to prepare Monkswell Manor for its guests. Married just a year, they have just acquired the old home located 30 miles outside the city and have just opened it as a rooming house. She seems wistful and hopeful, while he is stoic and matter-of-fact, still they share a subtle affection.

Just as a blizzard intensifies to confine everyone to the manor (naturally, this is a Christie story after all) we meet hyper and talkative aspiring architect Christopher Wren (named after the famous one, played by Matt Hartzburg); the “perfectly horrible” and never pleased Mrs. Boyle (Gigi Jennewein); easy-going retired soldier Major Metcalf (Mookie Harris); Miss Casewell (Michelle Wafford) whose trousers and attitude mark her as her own woman, brooding and secretive; and finally the expressive and wildly Italian-accented Mr. Paravacini (Lukas Schooler) who not only tells you up-front that you can’t trust a thing he says, he seems to delight in it. The latter is a surprise arrival, having (allegedly) stuck his car in a snowbank, forcing him to walk to this, the nearest house.

Speaking of surprises, local policeman Sergeant Trotter (Aaron Stillerman) suddenly arrives on skis to investigate how Monkswell and its occupants are apparently related to the murder mentioned above. “Three Blind Mice” is the theme of the goings-on, and when body number two is found, the plot intensifies in a quest for the identities of both the killer and the endangered third “mouse.”

Performances are excellent with steady accents. Each acts suspiciously in their own way, keeping fellow characters and the audience guessing. Hartzburg and especially Schooler have a blast with their hilarious over-the-top characters, as others on stage remark on their eccentricities to reassure us that neither is too intense for what the setting and story allow.

Liz Carrier is assistant director and Jamie Rich stage manager. The Scottish Rite provides, aside from the beautiful J. Robert Wortman Auditorium, a stage crew as well as set and props. This includes behind the stage’s central windows a scenic backdrop that dates back to the Cathedral’s first presentations in 1929 (which explains why it is kept as-is and not “snow” covered).

The play only has a single-weekend run, with remaining performances Saturday and Sunday, March 8-9, at 650 N. Meridian, downtown Indianapolis (big castle-like building, you can’t miss it). Promise not to tell, and come see who gets caught in “The Mousetrap.” Get tickets at bettyrageproductions.com.