By Val O’Bryan
The perfect show for the end of summer vacation season, A Bedfull of Foreigners got audiences howling with laughter. The Electric Theater in St. George, Utah is a gorgeous historic venue to host The Stage Door productions. Director Joshua Scott brought to life this 1970’s British farce by Dave Freeman.
The play tells the story of a European vacation gone wrong. British couple Stanley and Brenda are desperate to find accommodations in the midst of a busy festival in a small town on the French/German border. The moment the couple believes they have secured a room, Brenda faces personal misfortune when she realizes she left behind her beloved family ring at an earlier stop in their trip. Brenda leaves Stanley behind to try and recover the ring, not realizing the room has been double-booked. Stanley is left to his own devices to deal with the incompetent hotel manager, an unreliable but enterprising hotel porter, and a fellow countryman who must juggle surprise visits from his wife and mistress. The play is teeming with cover stories, subterfuge, and potential trysts.
Audiences quickly got a sense for the seedy hotel conditions in the opening scene with Karak, the hotel porter and handyman. Coy Andrew Shinn Jr. plays Karak, successfully employing physical comedy and interacting with the set to perfect every joke. Trey Paterson was convincing as the inept hotel manager, Heinz. Scott designed a set that consisted of one chilly hotel room that has two double beds, three doors, a failing radiator, a malfunctioning wardrobe, and a window that is big enough to lower a scantily clad woman.
Danalee Dial and Michael Lee brilliantly portrayed the strained relationship between Brenda and Stanley Parker. Ginger Nelson played lovable Helga, wife to philandering husband Claude, J. Bryan Dial. If two comically overwrought marriages in one overbooked hotel room wasn’t enough, the addition of mistress and cabaret actress Simone, played by Allie Koller, pushed everything over the edge. My spouse noted that the “true saint” in the whole production was Simone, who had a chance to expose all the liars and instead bows out in the most spectacular and unexpected way possible.
The cast moved skillfully in and out of doors, windows, and the wardrobe, taking advantage of slapstick moments and physical mayhem. Many of the jokes depended on the actors’ ability to convince the audience that the fully-functional set pieces are intermittently malfunctioning. These malfunctions were even more believable thanks to the sound engineers Chops Downward and Mark Speener. From gestures and facial expressions to voice and accents, each cast member does a great job playing the exaggerated characters of a farcical production. This type of show calls for an energetic team that can produce dynamic characters with strong comedic timing and the cast and crew at The Stage Door pulled it off.
Though A Bedfull of Foreigners has closed, The Stage Door is a theater company you want to follow and attend their upcoming performances.
The Stage Door presents A Bedfull of Foreigners, by Dave Freeman.
The Electric Theater, 68 E Tabernacle St, St. George, UT 84770
June 28-August 13, Thursday-Saturday 7:30 PM
Contact: 435-656-4407
Tickets: $17-21
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