'Foreigner' is clever, insightful
CENTERVILLE — A pathetically bashful British man's three-day visit to a rural, rustic Georgia fishing lodge starts out as a somewhat peaceful retreat, then quickly turns into an explosively hilarious disaster.
But the late Larry Shue's "The Foreigner" does much more than deliver laughs, there are also strong messages about bigotry and greed.
The reviewed performance included six from the Saturday night cast and one switch-over from the Friday cast. About half of the ensemble, well-directed by Leslie Giles-Smith, is making its Rodgers Memorial Theatre debut.
The central character, around whom virtually all of the action swirls, is Charlie Baker, whose perplexed persona is captured by Mike Brown. His best friend, former military buddy Sgt. "Froggy" LeSueur, fixes things so that Charlie won't have to mingle socially with others at the lodge when he goes off on a military exercise. He informs lodge owner Betty Meeks (Robin M. Edwards) that Charlie is a foreigner who neither speaks nor understands English.
The best scenes are those involving "foreigner" Baker and Catherine's younger, allegedly slow-witted, brother Ellard (Patrick Sates), who takes it upon himself to attempt to teach Baker how to speak English.
Meanwhile, all of the others spill their innermost secrets and grudges, because they've come to believe that Baker doesn't have a clue as to what they're saying. Helping "Reverend" Lee in his underhanded plot to condemn the lodge (as a way of obtaining the prime piece of property and turn it into a headquarters for the Ku Klux Klan) is menacing county proper inspector Owen Musser, played to the hilt by W. Mitchell James.
The comedy is both clever and insightful as the plot builds toward an explosive (as in TNT) finale.
Scott Van Dyke's authentically rustic set design, featuring rough-hewn logs from a Heber Valley sawmill, provides the perfect setting.
Sensitivity rating: Nothing especially offensive but younger children may be frightened by some of the villainy and a Klan attempt to take over the lodge.
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com
Recent comments
We saw the other cast on Friday night, and the show was equally entertaining...
UTWoodsman | Sept. 9, 2007 at 11:07 p.m.
Great review but they mispelled the actor playing Ellard's name...
R. States | Sept. 5, 2007 at 7:49 p.m.
The actor playing Owen is named Michael.
Theater Bug | Sept. 5, 2007 at 2:14 p.m.
