 This
production marked my fifth season at the Huron Playhouse, the
longest-running summer theatre in the state of Ohio (since 1948). Like
Lend Me a Tenor in 1998, this show had approximately two weeks to
rehearse and was cast from a company of performers hired for all five shows
in the summer season.
The Foreigner is Shue's first and funniest play, utilizing
many of the standard comic devices, but centering on one in particular: a
masquerade involving the pretense of not being able to speak or understand
English -- and the subsequent discovery of various secrets. The plot
involves a British science fiction proofreader whose habitually unfaithful
wife urges his best friend to take him to rural Georgia for a few days'
peace and quiet -- where he becomes the center of attention and soon finds
himself compelled to rectify potential injustice. Through a resulting
process of self-discovery, this meek and drab man becomes a hero to his
new-found friends. As a complement to the wordplay that is at the forefront
of the action, the performance style in this production utilized physical
comedy, a common element in farce.
Review from Sandusky Register |
