THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230488
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
For 50 years I've been acting - and I've been reviewing plays for about 20 - but I've never seen anything as bizarre as ``Dearly Departed.''
When the University Players announced they were doing comedy this go-round, the anticipation was for a Neil Simon-ish type of thing, or something about mistaken identities.
``Dearly Departed,'' written by David Bottrell and Jessie Jones, a twisted minds duo, is a series of vignettes centered on the death of Bud Turpin, patriarch of a group of characters who give new meaning to the word ``dysfunctional.''
Neither his widow nor anyone else had a kind word for Bud. This Bud was not for them. Best the family could do at the funeral was this tribute: ``He did what he did, he said what he said, he thought what he thought.''
Family members range from the very religious to the very drunk. What is frightening is that while the characters may seem exaggerated, all echo real life.
Son, Ray-Bud, talks about his future: ``When my unemployment check runs out, I'm gonna get married, have a child and get on welfare.''
The opening night audience loved the odd story. The sets are odd - painted backdrops, a wooden box with a steering wheel passing as a car.
The latter is the setting for one of the craziest moments in ``Dearly Departed.'' Junior, arguing with his wife, Suzanne, pulls a gun. She knows him well. She laughs it off.
Another bit has them arguing over which radio station to listen to. Finally, Suzanne finds one she likes, pulls off the knob and says, ``Jesus got the knob.''
Junior takes the key out of the ignition: ``Jesus got the knob - I got the key.''
Shantelle Harvey has captured Suzanne beautifully, although her speech is a bit stilted. But, for a first time onstage, it adds up to a fine portrayal.
The star of the show is Damond Nollan playing Junior as a good-looking nerd. Every line, every physical action is thoroughly convincing.
Junior has cheated on his wife. He tries, fumbling, to get back in her good graces.
``Can you get me back my youth - the love of a faithful husband?'' she asks. ``No,'' he answers, ``but I can get you a Pepsi.''
Daughter, Delightful, constantly slurps Pepsi's and munches potato chips. The delightful Delightful portrayal is by a man, Jerome Brothers. He never overplays, although with that part it would be easy to do. The result is - he is more natural, he gets more laughs.
He/she says not a word. Some of the best performances are without lines.
Billicia Hines, offering a fine portrayal of Nadine, has nothing to say, but plenty to drink. She is the mother of several children - although she looks too young for the part - with another on the way. Worried? Nah!
Although he has no lines, Khalid Baum gives a good portrayal of a hard-of-hearing, senile old man in a wheelchair.
You can call it tasteless or laugh it off.
Big laughs for the well-done fight scene, bigger ones when Junior describes his screwed-up life, laughing maniacally and trying to catch his breath as he does so.
He has cheated on his wife but, during the wild funeral, they make up and out.
Some of the cast members are a little stiff on speech, but all of them understand their weird characters.
First-time student director LaVonne McClain does a good job of knitting the whole thing together.
``Dearly Departed,'' in its weirdness, makes Monty Python and ``Picket Fences'' look tame. by CNB