"It's giddy. It's ghastly."

July 30, 2006 performance, reviewed by Ronald K. Baker

The City That Cried Wolf
courtesy State of Play Theatre

State of Play Theater's Director Daniel Barnes and co-producers Chloe Demrovsky and Rebecca Jones could hardly have crafted a more seamless presentation than the one that delighted the audience this sultry Sunday afternoon. Yes the Daniel Arts Center has air conditioning. The musical prelude was a curious mix of jazz and nursery rhymes. From then on the "fasten your seatbelt" sign should have been lit.

Immediately we are caught up in a melange of sinister plots, lifestyles, quirky characters, costume and set changes that all proceed at a mind boggling pace. But not to worry. We have Adam La Faci as the cool and charismatic private detective, Jack B. Nimble. As the narrator he guides us through this tangle with unshakeable composure. He, and rest assured, we, will get to the bottom of all this troublesome business. Well, maybe not all the business. It turns out that some of the business is just monkey business. The playwright juxtaposes double entendre, adult themes, slapstick and burlesque with poignant satire and social comment that sounds like it could have been written yesterday.

The entire production staff warrants kudos for pulling off such an ambitious and demanding work. Each of the six characters has multiple roles and costume changes including, in some cases, being a temporary curtain or a piece of furniture. The players use foreign accents like Cockney, German, French, and Brooklyn, convincingly. Chloe Demrovsky portrays a perfect Mother Goose. Even in her attempts to seduce our boy Jack, she never steps out of her haughty pose and perpetual waddle. We have children's rhymes a la Monty Python, sex, violence, cops and robber shoot-em-ups that get the adrenaline pumping while we, and our surrogate Jack, seek to unseal a dirty little secret in an otherwise filthy city. The emotional pendulum swings. Jack pines for his old partner Jill. There's a hair-raising, heart-pounding fight scene among Jack and a couple of his old cop buddies so well-staged that the audience is left gasping.

There is the macabre drama of the Tango, the humor of a blind mouse looking around before answering a question. Amae Kurre's lighting follows Jack when we're looking to him for reassurance that things are going to be all right. But that's the point. Maybe they're not. Even this seemingly flawless band of players with their marvelous producers and director can't quite smooth over the troubling questions raised in the script.

It's giddy. It's ghastly. And just when you might think it's all fun and games, along comes Little Bo Peep" to tug at your heart strings. But you'll have to go see why. And when you do, don't be afraid to laugh at the funny parts and pay attention to the others. Things may not appear quite as black and white as they did before.

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The Berkshire Fringe | berkshirefringe.org
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