Front Row Centre Review: THE FAMILY JEWELS - a new comedy

Theatre Review by Mark Andrew Lawrence, frontrowcentre@rogers.com

 

When premiering a brand new play you can do it big with lots of flashy publicity and media invited form all over the globe, as Mirvish Productions did last month with LORD OF THE RINGS.  Or, you can open quietly with little fanfare as Amicus Productions have chosen to do with their new comedy, THE FAMILY JEWELS.

 

 

Derek Dorey and Gerald Hess wrote the comedy with a little dramaturlogical guidance from playwright David Hess. What they have collectively wrought is a play, which takes a simple, basic premise and spins it out into two short but very funny acts.

 

Under the precise guidance of director David Cairns, the performers have been drilled to perfection delivering sharply worded barbs while navigating the facial situations.

Adrian Falconer and Kathryn Morgan play the central couple, married though not in love with one another.  His fumbling plays amusingly against her hysterical outbursts, as each tries to keep an extra-marital affair a secret.

 

In a similar fashion, Falconer as the uptight, button-down brother, Charles Whitefish Jr., contrasts with the casual and careless family slacker, John, played by Randall Connoly.  Connoly, in fact, gives such a believable performance that you could be forgiven for assuming his is just playing an extension of himself.

 

The same can be said for Lesley Tumber as Ashley Todd, the spoiled princess whose arranged marriage to John is just a sham to help her father's business.

 

The family business – a diamond mine- is at the heart of the show and when a business crisis arises, the parents descend upon the scene and the comedy kicks into high gear.

 

Brian Ablett as patriarch Charles Whitefish Senior dominates the stage as he tries to take control of his dysfunctional family.  His stern head-of-the-household manner is cut down to size by Jane Hunter's spot-on portrayal of his perpetually plastered wife.  She alone can reduce him to rubble with boozy honesty making her performance one of the highlights of this production.

 

When all six actors are on stage together the fireworks ignite and the situations yields some hysterically funny exchanges. Once the basic premise is established the play moves along at a sharp pace. If the ending seems pre-ordained, it is characteristic of most farces that the getting there is most of the fun. Unlike most farces, however, this one has some substance.  The characters are believable and the situation – even at its most comical – remains grounded in reality. It may not be socially relevant, but it is funny, and what more should be asked of a comedy?

 

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