Everybody
runs in Ray Cooney’s Run For Your Wife. John Smith, the
taxi driver who’s married to two different wives, runs all over London trying
to hide them from each other and, for that matter, also trying to hide two
different policemen and two upstairs tenants — all from one another, and the
truth from everybody. The wives and policemen, all confused by hopelessly
convoluted lies about who’s who and what’s going on, also run about or run
amok.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย As
you might imagine, if any of this frenzy slows down, the comedy will drag and
stop working. Fortunately, it never does. And the final curtain calls are
wilder and funnier than the action that precedes them.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Downstairs Cabaret Theatre, which
produced this crazy farce in 1993, is reviving it in a lively new production
directed by Jay Falzone. Despite the limited physical production values,
Falzone keeps the action clear and the movement varied and zippy. Characters
have to move through the double set that represents bigamous John Smith’s two
different homes in London. So we see folks from the Wimbledon home on stage
left cross over to a door in the Streatham home on stage right. And the cast’s
English accents are all over the place too. But it doesn’t matter. This is a
Ray Cooney farce.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The plotting isn’t just impossible;
it’s ridiculous and insults the intelligence. Queer (“pouffes” in Britain)
jokes, marital sex jokes, and police jokes abound. Only the detectives behave
calmly or logically and then only initially. But it doesn’t matter. This is a
Ray Cooney farce.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย We’ve seen several farces by Cooney at
the Shaw Festival, where expensive production values, stylish delivery, and
masterful physical comedy have lent them unusual sheen. No doubt, when Cooney
himself appears in his farces, his extraordinary skill gives them extra
panache. Even without him, Run For Your
Wife ran in London for nine years and has played successfully worldwide. I
know that, but I can’t explain it. Some things just work.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Rob
Weston is appropriately manic as the hapless John Smith. Amanda Irwin-Ladwig is
pretty and goes amusingly bonkers as his confused wife Mary. Robyn Fazio is
sexy and builds her exasperation to mania effectively as his wife Barbara.
David Autovino is actually likable as the annoyingly intrusive friend whom
you’d like the protagonist to punch out, and he develops into a zany
co-conspirator. Bobby Conte seems to be having fun as the over-the-top queen
from upstairs. As the Wimbledon detective, Liam Scahill is an excellent foil
for the others’ madness, keeping an admirable straight face for much of the
proceedings. And Mark Almekinder makes the Streatham detective as genuinely
peculiar as the others work to be.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย They
all seldom stop racing about, and the audience seldom stops laughing. Why
criticize?
Run For Your
Wife,by Ray Cooney, directed by Jay Falzone, plays at Downstairs Cabaret Theatre Center, 540 East Main
Street, Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m.,
through the end of February. Tix: $10.50-$24.
325-4370, www.downstairscabaret.com.
This article appears in Feb 4-10, 2004.
