THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 26, 1996 TAG: 9604240126
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Few scripts as high-spirited as ``See How They Run'' will appear on local stages this year. Few cast members will work harder than does the Little Theater of Portsmouth group that cavorts through Phillip King's frantic farce, earning loud and long applause after the closing curtain.
The show is full of disguises and mistaken identities, slamming doors, sight gags, slapstick, harmless hints of bawdiness and a lengthy chase scene that will be hilarious once the timing is worked out.
The scene is the vicarage of a small English village so conservative that residents are dismayed when the young vicar's comely wife ``goes about the village in trousers.'' She scandalizes her neighbors when she casually ``waves and yoo-hoos'' to a passing soldier who had waved to her.
It seems that Penelope Toop had left a theatrical career to marry the Rev. Lionel Toop. She is well aware that looks, not talent, accounted for whatever future she might have found on the stage.
The plot hinges on her attempt to see an amateur play in the company of the soldier to whom she had ``waved and yoo-hoed.'' He turns out to be a friend from her acting days, whom she disguises as a clergyman to escape some obscure military regulations. (All this takes place in a tightly budgeted Britain, not long after World War II.)
Into the inevitable case of mistaken identity the author tosses a visiting minister, an escaped Russian spy, and a Bishop who is Penelope's uncle. At one point, two laymen affecting clerical garb and one priest clad only in his underwear form a high speed procession that circles through the vicarage a half dozen times.
The actors to watch in this show are Tammie Soccio as Penelope and Wade Brinkley as Corporal Clive Winton. They display an easy rapport on stage that makes the long-time friendship of their two characters believable.
Soccio seems quite at home in the role of a former actress who can't imagine why she shouldn't behave exactly as she wants to, nor understand how her conduct affects her husband's image.
Brinkley also has an easy delivery that sets him apart, and the crispest sense of timing on the stage.
As opening night was delayed several minutes for completion of some technical tasks, it was no surprise that some of the performers were still polishing the details of their roles, especially in the first act. All clearly understand their characters' personalities and motivations.
Dot Paisley gets to cut up quite amusingly in the part of Ida, loyal maid to the Toop family who is continually caught in the middle of their apparently inexplicable behavior.
As the priggish Miss Skillon, who once fancied herself a contender for the Rev. Toop's hand, Kathy Ecobichon gets some of the funnier bits in the second act. Her demeanor is consistent and convincing, as is the long-suffering patience projected by Jim DiMunno in the role of the Rev. Toop.
Ronn Norris makes his theatrical debut as a thugish ``intruder'' into the family circle. Dan Cantwell, playing the Bishop of Lax, maintains an air that mingles bewilderment and weary frustration.
The hapless Rev. Arthur Humphrey is played with appropriate reserve by Al Aymer. Robert Wilson makes an appearance late in the show as a stolid, determined policeman named Sgt. Towers.
Jim Luker directed, keeping the action and the fast-paced plot clear, and the characters distinct. The set, which is one of the nicer interiors seen at the Little Theater of Portsmouth, was designed by Don Bowers. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: ``See How They Run,'' by Phillip King
WHEN: 8 p.m. today and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: Wilson High School, formerly Manor High, Little Theater,
1401 Elmhurst Lane.
TICKETS: 488-7866
by CNB