By Amanda Whittle
If you haven’t heard about the Off Broadway Theatre, you should understand it’s not your average theater. Their focus is comedy, and not just any comedy, really, really good comedy! This is not the first time the theater has shown Charlie’s Aunt, but they claim it to be one of the funniest shows they have ever shown. I agree! My husband and I come to the theater often for their improv comedy shows at 10 pm Fridays and Saturdays (in fact, David proposed to me on stage at one of their shows), but we have never seen one of their “official” plays. This was our first, and certainly won’t be our last.
Charlie’s Aunt is a hilarious play, whose plot is quite difficult to describe. The theater explains it as such: “This production features mistaken identities, young lovers in need of chaperones, and one ugly guy in a dress. Two college boys want to court these two young girls; but, without a chaperone, they need to enlist the help of their nerdy friend Babs, who impersonates an old widow so well, everyone falls in love with him/her.” If it sounds confusing, it is, until you go see the show.
The cast features ten actors, who have enough energy to fill the entire theater. Charlie (Riley Groves) and Amy (Arielle Groves) are two on-stage young lovers who also happen to be real-life spouses. The chemistry between the two is magical and clearly real. The other couple, Kitty (Samatha Wursten) and Jack (Austinn Jensen) are just as magical. The four of them create a Jane Austen-esque snobby British scene that causes the ridiculousness and comedy of the story to be even more pronounced. Amy’s Uncle, Albert Spettigue (Clinton Coltrin) and Jack’s father, Colonel Sir Francis Chesney (Gary Pimentel) play polite, spry old men who secretly only show these pleasantries in hopes of obtaining the hand of Charlie’s Aunt, Donna Lucia d’Alvadorez, who is a wealthy widow played by both Rusty Bringhurst and Angela Brown—watch the show to understand.
The two characters who truly steal the show are Brassett, the butler (Patrick Harris) and Babs (Bringhurst). The energy these two men bring and the way they work together will have you laughing until you cry. Harris’ stoic personality and apathetic deliverance of lines bring out the comedy of the other characters well. The way he presents himself reminds me of other highly regarded British dry comedy, such as Monty Python. I don’t know how he is able to hold himself together so well when everything happening on stage was so funny. I have had friends say Bringhurst is the funniest actor in Utah, and though I had never seen him in another performance before, completely agree after watching this play. The show wouldn’t be what it is if he was not the one playing Babs. His stage presence is incredible, as he uses different outlandish voices and faces to express his character’s feelings in the most over-the-top, yet perfect, ways. Working with Scott Butler (Director), they are able to, in Butler’s words, “take this play from a 10 to an 11.”
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If you enjoy amazing, side-splitting comedy, you need to go to the Off Broadway Theatre and see at least one of their shows this season. If you enjoy ludicrous British comedy, you need to go to the Off Broadway Theatre and see THIS show, Charlie’s Aunt, this season. Be sure to stay for Laughing Stock, their improv comedy show, full of audience participation every Friday and Saturday year-round at 10 pm. You can get discount tickets to Laughing Stock when you see their featured show the same night.
Off Broadway Theatre presents Charlie’s Aunt by Eric Jensen
Off Broadway Theatre 272 Main St, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
January 19- February 24, 2018 Monday, Friday-Saturday 7:30 PM
Tickets: $10-$16
Off Broadway Theatre’s Facebook Page
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