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In writing a Noel Coward farce equipped with a more modern freedom of expression, Sandy Rustin created in her 2013 play a comedy that’s probably more accurate in the way that British people probably actually talked in the 1920s. The result is an intriguing fusion that brings to mind other great farces: “A Flea in Her Ear,” “The Marriage of Figaro,” “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
She also manages to sneak in some thoughts about self-identity and feminism. The Palo Alto Players’ production is immaculate, and brings out all the fun and wit inherent in Rustin’s text.
The story begins with a pair of lovers, Beau and Sylvia (Steve Allhoff and Kate McGrath), basking in a glorious morning-after at a cottage in the country.
Unfortunately, Sylvia has set off a bit of a time bomb. She has declared her love for Beau and sent it off to the world through a pair of well-placed telegrams. This immediately brings to their little love nest every single visitor they would least like to see.
The rest of the morning is spent with family and frenemies tossing hand-grenade revelations but maintaining British civility throughout. (An illlicit affair or five is no reason to deny a cup of tea or a compliment regarding Beau’s Chinese robe.)
Under director Katie O’Bryan Champlin, the chaos is beautifully targeted and laughter-inducing. I especially enjoyed the brothers Beau and Clarke (Brandon Silberstein), who have developed this weird way of fighting, emphasizing their points with slaps to the chest followed by faceoffs involving kabuki-style posturing. Silberstein seems to have no limits at all, apparently modeling his terrified screeches on some giant parrot from Madagascar.
The wild cards are Dierdre and Richard (Natalie To and Lysander Abadia), who are married or recently divorced as Schrodinger’s cat is dead or alive. To plays Dierdre as a very enjoyable loose cannon, who gets schnockered and deploys such a rough series of semi-conscious gymnastics that concussion protocols might come into play.
Playing a naval deserter who has hidden his true identity for a number of years, Abadia goes to great extremes to bare his soul (and a lot more) to his former lover. Michelle Skinner, meanwhile, seems to relish her role as the pampered Marjorie, using her well-along pregnancy to command service from everyone else.
The show includes some divine gagwork (assault trombone, anyone?), but the ultimate is a running gag regarding cigarettes, perhaps the most extensive running gag I’ve ever witnessed. This owes a lot to props designer Kevin Davies, who obviously scoured every antique store in North America for novelty cigarette lighters, and who also designed the lovely cottage interior.
Ironically, the couple who at first seemed so daring, Beau and Sylvia, turns out to be the calm center that most comedies require. The pivot point is Sylvia, who takes a remarkable interior journey for a single morning’s work. McGrath does a superb job of taking her character from smitten kitten to suddenly independent female, realizing along the way that the orthodox world of coupling followed by infidelity may not be her cup of tea.
The half-sung posh accents are a bit dense at first, but seem to clear as the spectators’ ears and actors’ lips warm up. Jenny Garcia’s 1920s period costumes are fabulous, especially Sylvia’s elegant cream-colored coat. The current Broadway production of the show was directed by Jason Alexander (yes, George Costanza).
I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve held back on quite a few specifics, because I don’t want to give away any of the production’s juicy plot twists and gags. Some of the best laughs, in fact, come from one of the characters simply recounting the story thus far. (One might want to bring a whiteboard to track who, precisely, is sleeping with whom.) In return, I guarantee laughs, and the kind of laughter derived from wit and cleverness, which is somehow more nutritious and stimulating.
The Palo Alto Players present “The Cottage” through June 28, at the Lucie Stern Theater, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Tickets are $35-$60. For more information, visit papplayers.org or call 650-329-0891.
