Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 2018)
8 // COASTWEEKEND.COM A LIGHT COMEDY EVEN WHEN IT’S DARK Peninsula Players stage double bill of ‘Black Comedy,’ ‘The Son Also Rises’ IF YOU GO PENINSULA PLAYERS “Black Comedy,” by Peter Shaffer and “The Son Also Rises,” by Robert Brake When: 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Nov. 9-10, 16-17; 2 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 11 and 18 Where: River City Play- house, 127 S.E. Lake St., Ilwaco, Wash. Admission: $10, at the door or in advance from Stormin’ Norman’s in Long Beach, Wash., Old Towne Cafe in Ilwaco or Okie’s Thriftway store in Ocean Park, Wash. By PATRICK WEBB FOR COAST WEEKEND F orget the actors for a mo- ment. The most import- ant person in Peninsula Players’ latest show is the lighting technician. That’s because the theatrical premise of “Black Comedy” is that when the stage lights go out, the actors behave as if they are on. And when the lights come on, they act as if all around them is dark. The comic result, according to director Andy Tauber, is a show that is “extremely hysterical.” Tauber retired to the Long Beach Peninsula after a career that included working behind the scenes in Hollywood. He stage-managed the show while attending Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys, California, and later directed it for a Bay Area dinner theater. “The gim- mick is ‘everything that can go wrong goes wrong’ — and then there are other things that can go wrong, too.” It is his second show for Pen- insula Players. In March, he was stage manager for “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” The one-act farce will be performed as a double bill with “The Son Also Rises,” a short comedy by Ocean Park writer Robert Brake. The shows open Friday, Nov. 9, at the River City Playhouse in Ilwaco and run six performances over two weekends. PATRICK WEBB PHOTO In the dark, Kathy Warnert takes a tumble as her social-climbing fiancé, played by Barry Sears, moves some stolen furniture in ‘Black Comedy,’ a play by Peter Shaffer being staged in Ilwaco the next two weekends. When the lights are on, the characters think they are in the dark, and vice versa. How it began For “Black Comedy,” Brit- ish writer Peter Shaffer began with the reverse lighting prem- ise — then known as “Chinese darkness” — for a one-act play to accompany another show that starred Maggie Smith and Albert Finney. It made its London debut in 1965 in an era when controver- sial Ken Tynan was pushing the envelope of experimental theater during the “Swinging Sixties.” Derek Jacobi starred, with Smith and Finney in supporting roles. The 1967 American production saw the Broadway debuts of Mi- chael Crawford (later the original “Phantom”) as the impoverished sculptor and Lynn Redgrave, a member of Britain’s five-genera- tion acting family, as his fiancée. Taking these lead roles in the Players’ version are Barry Sears and Players’ newcomer Kathy Warnert. Tauber said Sears plays a “hipster starving artist” seeking to “marry up” who is engaged to a vapid debutante. The pair have stolen expensive antique furni- ture from a neighbor to adorn their apartment to impress her father, who is played by James Tweedie. In the reverse-lighting format, the action begins in the dark. A power short-circuit causes the lights to come on. Natasha Beals, who made her stage debut as the villain’s sidekick in PAPA’s summer production of “Beauty and the
