The Collegian Wednesday, April 4,1990
Matchbox Players
The Coarse Acting Show"
by Rob Prindle
The Coarse Acting Show
by Michael Green
Wednesday, April 4 - Saturday,
April 7.
Studio Theatre - 8:00 pm.
In the tradition of Monty
Python? No, not even close. In
fact the only thing that The
Coarse Acting Show and Python
have in common is English
accent. Not everything that
weighs the same as a duck is a
witch.
But it was an enjoyable
enough night of comedy theater
with a new (at least to me)
concept. Coarse acting, as the
director explained before the
show, is a combination of bad
acting, missed cues, faulty props,
out of synch dialog and just
about any other faux pas that
could come about on stage. All
of this can be extremely funny,
but as you can imagine, all of
this chaos on stage can also get
tiring.
Each actor in the cast had an
English Thespian type name
(Neville Blanchard, Johnathan
Mortimer Swift, etc.) Now this
gets a bit complicated. The actors
stayed in their thespian characters
through five short plays of very
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differing themes: A murder
mystery, a Chekov type drama, a
Shakespearian drama, a
progressive french
interpretativc/expcrimental piece
and finally I think what what was
supposed to be farce. The idea
here was an acting troop putting
on a night of theater.
For the most part each actor
kept his major role (that of an
English actor) straight through
all of the different short plays,
although I have no idea how. The
last play I saw with so many
costume changes was "Greater
Tuna" and that play only dealt
with three actors. There were
hundreds' of Bchrcnd students in
this play, and several sets. Even
one of the plays within the play
had several acts. I think that
director Stephen .Buckwald is a
masochist.
But one thing that must have
made it easier for the cast and
crew was the very nature of what
they were dojng. Mistakes were
the theme, so if someone screwed
up who was going to know? This
play never stopped between the
acts (or sub-plays?) the set
changes were even intended to be
funny.
Some of the funnier on
purpose mistakes were: all of the
actors being stuck on stage and
turn mistakes into laughter
plays on common theatrical difficulties
trying to blend in with the
scenery; an actor tying to make
the best out of a tea urn that
wouldn't shut off; and two actors
making the best of being trapped
in a huge salt shaker.
If this all sounds hectic and
sweaty, just imagine adding
blown lines, props being moved
out of place or not being present
Coarse acting, as the
director explained, is a
combination of bad
acting, missed cues,
faulty props, and out
of sync dialog.
at all, inappropriate lighting
moves and lots of slap stick. We
are talking about total chaos and
a very different theatrical
production.
There were some stand out
performances and stand out
moments in this very long
production.
Sue Nichols played a superbly
funny innocent. She was clearly
«£LU
the highlight of my favorite sub
play "The Cherry Sisters." I’ve
never seen her act before, but I’m
thinking she should get a lot of
attention in the future.
Another real treat in this play
was Pat Hopwood playing an old
hag fond of falling trees. Her
whined editorials were hilarious,
and her heckling laugh was right
on.
Pat was also exquisite in
"All s Well That Ends As You
Like It" as a balloon busted
matron, fond of recalling those
who had suckled at her ample
breast.
Don Hopwood gave a good
solid performance all the way
through. He was called upon
many times to be the backbcal of
the comedy, but even as a focus
character, Don was an interesting
presence on stage. His finest
moment came as the character
Piles, an elderly butler, but he
also excelled in a very different
role in "Last Call for Breakfast"
the ultra experimental piece
(which, by the way, made very
fine use of the Pink Floyd oldie
"Several Small Furry
Animals..."). Don, along with
Stephane Dorian, gave
frighteningly strange
performances as super sensitive
slow-motion mimes.
(ARE 1300 ftEADy
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Other actors worth watching
include Bill Gibbard, especially
in the experimental piece. Bill is
an actor with incredible energy
and this is really the only place
in the play where he was allowed
to use it, although he played well
throughout the evening.
Clay Robeson and Tammy
Furyesz both performed well with
what I thought was ailing
material.
And although this play did
have many high points, there
were also some flaws. Some of
the actors, it was clear, did not
understand the humor that they
were trying to create. The play
went way, way, way, way, way
100 long at two and a half hours.
It started to lose the audience, and
how many times is a falling wall
funny? The introductions between
plays didn't work at all. The
smoke machine almost killed
several elderly members of the
audience and I didn't understand
one important point. Were the
plays within the play supposed to
be serious or is part of coarse
acting also coarse writing?
This play was a tremendous
undertaking and the kind of
experimentation that college
theater needs, but I still have one
question. How did the players
team all of that sniff?
fggii
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