Neil Simon's award-winning, slapsticky farce comes to Mago Hunt theatre
By Sydney Syverson
Neil Simon knows a thing or two about nonsensical plot lines, campy characters and the "take-unawares" ending - and we love him all the same for it. "Rumors" fits the farce mold perfectly and UP's rendition of this topsy-turvy tale, directed by Jenn Hunter, leaves the audience a little confused but always entertained.
The plot seems simple enough, but Simon schools the audience into realizing that the lives of the elite are never quite as transparent as they appear.
Four upper-class couples gather together in order to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their good friends Charlie and Myra Brock. This is about where the normalcy ends. Honestly, who goes to see a play about rich people eating food and relishing how lovely their lives are?
The couples find that their host, the deputy mayor of New York City, has shot himself through the earlobe and their hostess is nowhere to be found. Because of their upper class status, everyone decides that they must discover what happened and do everything in their power to hide it from the outside world.
After about an hour and a half of comic confusion, complete with more gun shots, gossip about aristocratic trysts, a visit from the local police and even a Shakira dance party, the final curtain closes with a million new questions buzzing around the theatre.
That's the beauty of Simon's work: We don't have to believe his stories, or, for that matter, his characters, in order to enjoy the spectacle.
Because Simon plays are usually best understood when seen and often confusing when read, I'll skip an in-depth analysis of the plot and go directly to the characters and performances.
The first character to take the stage is Chris Gorman (Stephanie Bayne), a nervous and neurotic woman who desperately desires a cigarette throughout the course of the play.
Senior Bayne, with her wide eyes and over-the-top expressions (though on stage rarely is anything truly over-the-top) does a commendable job as this anxious basket case.
Being the first person on stage can be stressful because you set the tone for the show, but Bayne did this with ease. I could tell right from the start that she was confident in both her portrayal of the character and her own talent.
Unfortunately though, I spent most of the play praying that the slit in the middle of her dress wouldn't reveal anything indecent to the audience. Of course, this has nothing to do with Bayne's acting skills, and I am aware that actors have no say in costuming decisions.
The most obscure characters in the play, and my personal favorites, were the couple Ernie and Cookie Cusack.
Sophomore Anna Mottice was hilarious as the scatterbrained chef Cookie. The characters in "Rumors" take a backseat to the discombobulated plot. But Mottice made me take notice from her first entrance, which wasn't soon enough. I believed that she was this insane cook wearing her grandmother's 60 year-old dress from Russia.
Mottice has a real talent for physical comedy. A moment that truly stuck out in the play was when Cookie, because of her bad back, had to crawl her way to the kitchen on her hands and knees in order to make a feast for the other couples.
Mottice fully commits to the character, and, therefore, the audience fully commits to her. I wouldn't be surprised if her back hurts as much as the character's does by curtain call because of the obvious effort she's putting into the performance.
Her male counterpart, Ernie Cusack (Patrick Rexroat) was equally memorable. It can be difficult to find a pair of actors that mesh so well together, but these two do a wonderful job at portraying possibly the most nauseating couple in the history of romance.
Rexroat, a senior, also has quite a gift for physicality, as is evidenced by a scene in which Ernie, after severely burning his fingers, does a sort of painful dance while trying to open the front door. Rexroat squirms and squeals when trying to open the door with his wrists, his elbows, his legs and finally giving in and using his parched hands. I couldn't help but laugh - yes, at Ernie's agony.
Other noteworthy performances were from junior Danielle Larson and senior Devin Olson.
Larson portrayed the quarrelsome and at times idiotic Cassie Cooper, a woman obsessed with the calming abilities of a two million year old crystal.
Olson was dynamic as Lenny Ganz, a man who is at times belligerent and pretends to be above gossip, but really thrives on being in-the-know and in everyone's business.
Olson brought "Rumors" to a powerful ending with an 800-plus-word monologue. In this final spiel, he not only speaks Spanish and acts out the evening's catastrophic events for the police, but also manages to tie up loose ends of the play in all of five minutes.
This play will make you laugh and leave you absorbed and tickled by its complex story. And any play that uses the word "chutzpah" gets my stamp of approval.
"Rumors" runs Oct. 7-10, 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 11 at 2 p.m. in Mago Hunt Theatre.
