BY ANNE COLEMAN

In print | Published September 17, 2009

Located just off of Route 320, on the way to the all-important late night destination of Wawa, the Players’ Club of Swarthmore is presenting an infrequently produced Neil Simon play, “Rumors.”
As the man who gave audiences “The Odd Couple” and “Barefoot in the Park,” Simon is no stranger to comedy writing. However, with this farce, Simon appears to have been both in and out of his element.

The play is about four well-off couples who plan to spend their evening celebrating the 10th wedding anniversary of their friend, the deputy mayor of New York City, but instead end up embroiled in an elaborate cover-up for a crime that may or may not have happened, all the while speculating about the numerous potential causes of the “crime” they believe that they are concealing.

In the careful hands of Broadway director Gene Saks and his esteemed cast, “Rumors” was relatively well received when it premiered in New York. Yet director Bohdan Senkow of the Players’ Club lacks both the careful hands and talented cast that prevented the original production from bombing. Simon indulged himself so thoroughly in writing this farce that the play presents extreme challenges to those, like Senkow, whose background in theater is limited to realism.

To say that the Players’ Club production is without merit would be unjust, but it took the cast considerably more time to find their comic groove than they had any right to demand.

Jim Carroll, in the role of Ken Gorman, takes more than half of the first act to commit to the farce and doesn’t achieve his real potential until his character is rendered partially deaf (at which point it would take considerable skill to be anything other than farcical). As the second character to appear on the stage and a key player for most of the first act, Carroll’s deficiencies drag down the wild energy delivered by his character’s wife, played by Melissa Kearney, and the delightful Donna Dougherty, in the role of Claire Ganz.

However, when the focus of the play shifts from the Gormans to a more balanced stage picture between the four couples, the action picks up speed. When the intermission rolls around, it becomes clear that the classical elements of farce will shortly appear and with them, the payoff for sticking out the first half. Indeed, the remainder of the play delivers, with every member of the cast finding some occasion to crawl about on their hands and knees before the night is through.

Senkow’s staging neither undermines nor particularly enhances the script for the most part, although it would have been impossible to suppress a laugh when Rosalina Francesca, as Cookie Cusack, made her way to the kitchen despite having thrown out her back.

By and large, the physicality leaves something to be desired, with the actors only escaping the binding laws of naturalistic acting when the action necessitates absurd physical positions.
When Cassie Cooper, portrayed by Schuyler Morris, drunkenly attempts to engage the attention of the very married Lenny Ganz (Michael Steven Shultz), her actions are so understated and natural on Morris’ part that her character may as well be the sober one in the room, compared with the much livelier, farcical responses of Mr. and Mrs. Ganz.

The stage picture tells a simple story that is as faithful to the text as it is predictable, but in the words of Officer Welch, played by stage manager Joe Spiecker, “I buy it. I buy the whole thing. You know why I buy it? I buy it because I liked it! I didn’t believe it, but I liked it!”

The Players’ Club may not be able to supply excellence or innovation in every production, limited as they are (all performers and most participants are volunteers), but they pass the time pleasantly enough and offer by far the best ticket value in the area.

With seven main stage and nine second stage productions this season, the Players’ Club will doubtless produce more easily digestible fare this year. With an appealing price tag, proximity to campus and a wide variety of offerings, the Players’ Club of Swarthmore may just be the best bet for a Swarthmore student looking to mix things up, and walk-in tickets aren’t hard to come by.

« RETURN TO LIVING & ARTS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »