West Coast Premiere!
The Lying Kind
by Anthony Neilson
- 11/16/06 REVIEW: OC Register
- 11/16/06 REVIEW: Anaheim Bulletin
- 12/12/06 REVIEW: Fullerton Observer
- More Press on The Chance
THEATER REVIEW
'The Lying Kind' doesn't cheat on big laughs
by Eric Marchese, OC Register
November 16, 2006
It's been said that, in the world of theater, the line between comedy and tragedy is exceedingly thin.
The premise of Anthony Neilson's 2002 play "The Lying Kind" and its content - which includes traffic-accident deaths, heart attacks, insanity, dogs being beaten to death and talk of pedophilia - might suggest tragedy.
Neilson, however, frames everything at hand in such a way as to garner laughs at almost every juncture. Call it the dry British sensibility. It's a quality evident in the works of Agatha Christie and the films of Alfred Hitchcock: the ability to make light of the dark and grisly. What Neilson has wrought is topical, cynical, edgy and gut-bustingly funny.
In this dark farce's West Coast premiere at the Chance Theater, director Beach Vickers gets things right from the get-go. He and his cast recognize that Neilson hasn't simply written something that could be termed Ken Ludwig lite, but that everything that springs from the playwright's premise could just as easily have been framed as tragedy. At its core is the question: Is it right to withhold the truth from someone if you honestly believe your doing so is an act of kindness?
The elements of farce prevent "The Lying Kind" from veering toward the tragic. Neilson's purveyors of bad news are Blunt and Gobbel, a pair of inept British bobbies sent, on Christmas Eve, to deliver the news to a London couple that their daughter has been killed in a car crash.
Right off the bat, Vickers establishes that Blunt (David Chorley) and Gobbel (Michael Irish) are a cross between Laurel and Hardy and the tramps from Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," with touches of Monty Python.
In fact, the surreal tone that pervades "The Lying Kind" is Pythonesque. Like the works of fellow Brit Joe Orton, it also owes a debt to the Absurdist movement of the mid-20th century - and is as subversive as Orton. At one point, Blunt desperately cries out that the situation he and his partner are enmeshed in is "a nightmare."
He and Gobbel are indeed partners in more than one sense of the word, something Neilson reveals gradually and cannily. As the play opens, the duo endlessly debates the merits of informing, or not informing, the couple of their daughter's death.
On the sidewalk outside the couple's townhome, the pair are accosted by Gronya (Tara Henry), the leader of a fierce neighborhood-watch group that, judging by her militant tactics, borders on vigilantism. Their target is a pedophile, and so acute is her radar that something's fishy that she's convinced the two cops are protecting the child molester.
Things grow even more strange as Blunt and Gobbel attempt to break the bad news, in as kind and gentle a manner as possible, to Mr. and Mrs. Conner (Kim Kiedrowski and Joan Neubauer). The Mrs. has psychotic breaks where she imagines she's the serving wench on a naval vessel. Mr., cluelessly above the fray, has a weak heart that could give out at any moment.
Neilson mercilessly piles on the plot twists (about one every 10 minutes) in text that mixes character, verbal and situation comedy with brash, unabashed slapstick. Chance patrons, though, should be forewarned that things get rough, and that the "f" word is casually uttered numerous times.
Aided by Glenda Morgan Brown's accurate dialect coaching, Vickers' well-chosen cast has a fine eye and ear for the text's quirks. Chorley's Blunt, the "smart" bobby, is a master of comic desperation and a fine slapstick comedian. As Gobbel, his presumably dimmer partner, Irish uses a light Cockney dialect and a gentle manner suggesting a toned-down Martin Short.
Kiedrowski's Oxbridge accent and persona make for a head of the house oblivious to the world. Neubauer makes Mrs. Conner's doting housewife as funny as her bouts of dementia, which include some outrageously kinky moves on the bobbies. Henry uses a low Cockney dialect and an intensely brutal manner as the aggressive Gronya. Glenn Koppel wrings laughs as the befuddled vicar determined to see that the couple learn the truth. As Gronya's college-age daughter, Krystal Cori Garcia is the butt of much of the script's humor.
Masako Tobaru's set captures the shabby gentility of the Conners' living room, with cheerful touches of Christmas, and Casey Long's sound design is Dickensian in its comedic hyperbole, contributing to the comedy's seasonal flavor.
CONTACT US: Freelance writer Eric Marchese has covered entertainment for the Register since 1984.
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THEATER REVIEW
The Chance takes on British holiday farce
'The Lying Kind' plays through Dec. 17
by Anne-Margret Bellavoine, Anaheim Bulletin
November 16, 2006
Good intentions gone awry is the premise of the hilarious "The Lying Kind," in which two bumbling English bobbies agonize about how to break the very worst of news to aging parents on Christmas eve.
Anthony Neilson's 2002 farce makes its west coast premiere at the Chance under the direction of Beach Vickers, ushering the holiday season in devilish humor.
Blunt (David Chorley) and his young partner Gobbel (Michael Irish) are dispatched to break the news to Garson (Joan Neubauer) and Balthasar (Kim Kiedrowski) that their daughter Carol was killed in a car accident on her way home for Christmas.
That, they cannot bear to do, hence embark on a series of escalating white lies and semi-truths which become gradually more protracted and tangled.
Out and about are mean carolers intent on catching an at-large pedophile, under the formidable leadership of Gronya (Tara Henry) who threatens the worst punishment on the perpetrator or any acolytes, and especially the vicar, Shandy (Glenn Koppel).
Life behind No. 58 is not idealistic, as Balthasar and Garson face age-related physical and mental ailments.
Macabre humor and mayhem twists and turns peppered with deliciously wicked language full of cockney and double-entendres make for outrageously funny entertainment, especially ironic as it spoofs euphemistic situations of real life and how we choose to sanitize them.
The plot moves with breakneck speed from one impossible situation to another, with passing out, dead or dying dogs, Carols, vicars, parents, and yes, the inevitable undignified show of undies, this being Brit humor.
Fasten your sleigh belt for this jolly ride into seasonal fun.
'The Lying Kind'
Where: The Chance Theater, 5552 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim Hills
When: 4 p.m. Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday, through Dec. 17
Cost: $25, $22 students/ seniors, $40 dinner & show package
Info: 714-777-3033 or www.chancetheater.com.
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THEATER REVIEW
Holiday Treats
by Joyce and Elliot Rosenthal, Fullerton Observer
December 12, 2006
The holiday season is upon us and there are lots of theatrical
presents under the Christmas tree. Local theaters are offering
holiday fare for audiences of all ages including an adults-only
farce at Chance Theater, a comic spoof for parents and children
at Maverick Theater and a drama suitable for families at
STAGEStheatre.
Now playing at the
CHANCE THEATER is the
West coast premiere of “The
Lying Kind” by Englishman
Anthony Neilson. In the play,
two inept Laurel and Hardylike
British constables are
assigned the grim task of
informing an elderly couple
that their daughter has been
killed in an automobile accident
on Christmas Eve. The
other characters (and they are
truly characters) include a
female pedophile hunter who
resembles and acts like a
Marine drill sergeant, the
eccentric elderly couple who
seem to forget who they are
and where they are, a vicar
who leads us down a false path,
and a young neighbor girl who
while looking for her dog
winds up literally as a giftwrapped
present under the
Christmas tree.
The play is a farce; nothing is as it seems. The play races along at a frantic pace, provoking laughter with every line and facial expression thanks to the skill and timing of the actors.
Their dialect is authentic thanks to Dialect Coach Glenda Morgan Brown. Beach Vickers is the Director of this hilarious play…there is never a dull moment.
This may not sound like typical
holiday fare, but if you want
to give yourself the gift of laughter,
go see “The Lying Kind” at
the Chance Theater and look
out for David Chorley and
Michael Irish as the constables
and Tara Henry as the pedophile
hunter…she can really grab you.
Watch out!
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