REVIEW: Half 'Laffs' with Chekhov at Spotlighters

I knew we were in trouble the minute that it was announced that the show is really from a work called Seven Short Farces by Anton Chekhov, but we were only getting five (ba dum dum).  As luck would have it, though, five was more than enough.  Britannica Online defines "farce" as "a comic dramatic piece that uses highly improbable situations, stereotyped characters, extravagant exaggeration, and violent horseplay."  The evening of one acts by Anton Chekhov under the dubious title "Just for Laffs" now playing at the Spotlighters Theatre in Baltimore, is sometimes close to that definition, but also many times far from that.  Mostly though, it is an evening in search of an identity.  Is it farce?  Is it satire?  Is it biting social commentary?  Is it even funny?  Hmmm, well, I'll admit, save for the first and last questions, I'd expect that from the same man who brought us The Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard, for he was nothing if not a satirical social commentator.  But a writer of farce?  And funny?  Prove it to me. 

To be fair, the long-dead Chekhov can't defend himself, and Heaven only knows how close a translation Paul Schmidt did.  According to the program Schmidt was a beloved translator from Yale, but as he has also passed, one couldn't argue with him, either.  So I guess I am going out on the lonely limb once again when I say: Chekhov should have stuck with depressing drama.  Each act is literally a one-joke affair.  And each takes about 25 minutes to tell.  All five have the feel and desire to play like sketches from the old Carol Burnett Show.  Remember those?  Lampooning human foibles, classic character types stretched to incredible limits, broad comedy and often-violent slapstick (Tim Conway took a lot of abuse).  Sounds like "farce" to me.  And the five acts presented at Spotlighters try to do the same.  Overall, they range from dull to mildly amusing.  So where did Carol and Company go right and Spotlighters go wrong?  Well, to be blunt 4.5 cast members seemed to understand that it isn't just the words and the action that makes comedy, especially farce, funny.  They understand that what makes comedy funny is the heart of the characters shining through the silliness and the element of reality that must ground all comedy.  The other 2.5 actors seem lost in their own worlds – are they in it for themselves?   I doubt it, for the most part. Which leads to blunt point number two: Are they victims of too much or not enough direction? Possibly. With two directors (John Sadowsky and Amy Pohlig) it is hard to tell who did what, except this – they never seemed to gel with one unified vision of what the night should be.  As I said, this is an evening in search of an identity.  And there you have it -  half good, half not so. 

Let's dispense with the "not so half" so that we will end on a positive note.  The evening starts and ends with "not so."  The opener, "Swan Song" about an aging Thespian, is, sad to say, the dullest 20 – 25 minutes seen on any stage in Baltimore thus far in 2006.  Alternately mind-numbing and infuriatingly bad, the act features a pitiful exercise in letting an experienced actor get carried away with himself.  The culprit here is J.R. Lyston who has an enviable resume of acting credits, but does nothing here but give off the air of self-indulgence and pomposity usually reserved for Royalty.  Ahh, it will be said, "but James, that was the character."  Maybe, but it was more Lyston than character, I have a feeling, given the same smug, self-involved performance he gives in the final act, where he pretty much plays J.R. Lyston as Scrooge.  There is not a single true moment in either performance.  On the same end of the spectrum, but for completely opposite reasons, we have Taylor Craig, who in this cast has a relatively brief resume, and her inexperience shows.  Apparently known in local circles as the How to Succeed "secretary with the weird laugh", Ms. Craig seems to have taken that to mean quality performing.  Having a trademark shtick is fine, but you gotta have something to back it up.  Here, she adds to her repertoire with an arm gesture for every sentence uttered, endless mugging for the audience, and a knack for overplaying so much that she forgets where she is in a line.  Craig might also benefit from remembering to breathe in order to get the lines out. In both cases, I fault the directors as well, for not reining in their actors, and for not making either actor try to be anything more than loud.  Saying a line loud doesn't make it funnier.

Straddling the "good/not so" line is one of Baltimore's most accomplished actors, Branch Warfield, who with nearly 35 years of trodding Charm City's boards, should really know better in the first act – realizing he can't compete with a stage hog, he barely registers.  Again, tsk tsk directors.  I suspect Mr. Warfield is an old school (and I mean that in the very nicest way, truly) actor who takes direction and doesn't question or just go off and do his own thing.  Ok, those were my notes for his blah performance at the top of the show.  Because as the evening wears on, Warfield gets better and better – a twinkle in his eye, superb comic timing, and REAL performance – heightened and farcical, yes, but grounded in truth.  All of this is even more extraordinary when one considers that he spends the rest of the night as a servant with little to do but be utterly charming and engrossing.

There are 4 great reasons to go so see this Just For Laffs. And they are Mark Squirek, Russ Addis, Kathy Ireland and Charlie Mitchell.  I have had the pleasure of seeing all four several times.  They are really wonderful and all rise above the material and direction.  Mr. Addis gives a hilarious turn as a man's man (think Gaston in Beauty and the Beast) in "The Bear."  He doles out the hilarity and gruff behavior in an increasing way.  Somewhere, this talented young man has been taught (and wisely so) that funny and meaningful happens best in a volume and tone that modulates and emphasizes, rather than one loud yell that just drones.  He blusters, smolders, yells, mutters and gives a fine show of it all.  In perfect counterpoint, in the same act, Kathy Ireland also modulates, but in this case from measured quiet to near death stillness to hyper, but not shrill.  Here, the character's feminine wiles are a point for point match for the man's macho posturing and overbearing ways.  The result?  A 25-minute gem!  It helps that this piece is the best written of the five, but both actors do fine with lesser material elsewhere.  Mark Squirek, in this reviewer's opinion, may be one of the most reliable actors in Baltimore.  When I see his name in the program, I know the character is in good hands.  He does not disappoint here.  He is particularly excellent in what amounts to a monologue about the suffering of a husband in "A Reluctant Tragic Hero."  Squirek takes this one joke and milks it for all its worth.  His performance is a study in tone modulation and pacing.  I imagine he is a scream at dinner parties.  And even though you know how this act will end long before it does, he manages to make you care the whole way through.  His scene partner here, Mr. Addis, also does a remarkable job with few lines.  His performance here is nothing less than a how-to primer for actors who need to learn a variety of facial expressions for the same emotion.  Bravo to both!  Charlie Mitchell has made a delightful Spotlighters debut, and makes me want to advise casting directors to look for this man and HIRE HIM.  It is always a wonderful thing to see at any level of theatre a performance of such assuredness, depth (yes, farce can be deep) and joy, and Mitchell has done just that.  In both acts, "The Proposal" and "The Festivities", Mitchell creates well-rounded characters for the audience to root for and relate to.  He seems quite adept at both line delivery funny and physical comedy funny.  I look forward to seeing him again.

Lastly, another debut of note comes with this production – Marc Schabb as set designer.  He has created a colorful, clever, storybook feeling set, full of color and whimsy, and all dominated by the bright red lettering of Anton Chekov's name emblazoned on the wall in Russian in tribute to an international theatre giant.  The over all design gives the evening a unity and point of view that the direction and half the performances don't.  I look forward to his next effort as well.

As I said, plays that tell you how to react in their titles never seem to be my cup of tea.  And to be completely fair, everyone around me was "laff"-ing a lot.  But the work of the cast and the designers make this, if not a must-see evening, than a should-see effort.  So go!  And laff!

PHOTOS: By Amy Jones TOP: Branch Warfield (L) and J.R. Lyston (R); BOTTOM: (L) Russ Addis and (R) Kathy Ireland