SCREWBALL COMEDY REVIEW – The Slotkin Letter
Directed by Emily Oriold
In a screwball comedy the language seems archaic, women are “dames” but in control; men are masculine and think they are supreme until the ‘dame’ appears and puts him in his place; romance is bubbling; laughs are everywhere.
In Norm Foster’s Screwball Comedy it’s 1938. Jeff Kincaid (Tyler Rive) is a confident, almost swaggering newspaperman working for a paper managed by Bosco (Courtenay Stevens). Bosco thinks that Jeff Kincaid has lost his edge and needs to challenge him. Enter Mary (Zoë O’Connor) who is looking for a job as a reporter. Bosco decides to send both Mary and Jeff Kincaid to cover the wedding of the paper’s owner’s son and the person with the best story gets the job. The owner is Delores (Claire Jullien). Her son Chauncey (Courtenay Stevens) is marrying Gloria (Claire Jullien). Delores thinks that Gloria is a gold digger and is after Chauncey’s and the family’s money. So Mary and Jeff Kincaid are really there to prove Delores right. Also, Delores has been newly-widowed and seems to be engaged to Peter (Courtenay Stevens). There is a lot of toing and frowing in Delores’ huge house and her condescending butler, Reginald (Courtenay Stevens) seems to control the pace of it all, getting Delores or Chauncey or Gloria to appear, while Mary and Jeff Kincaid wait.
Screwball Comedy is directed with supreme skill and invention by Emily Oriold. The pace is brisk, with actors appearing as one character, exiting and seconds later appearing as another character. Four actors play all the parts. Jeff Kincaid is played by Tyler Rive who brings out Kincaid’s confidence, humour, style and flippancy. Kincaid is stylish in a fedora, tan suit and tie and two-toned shoes—bravo to Alex Amini for the wonderful costumes. Kincaid plops his hat on Bosco’s desk and then sits on the corner of the desk—a man who owns his space. This infuriates Bosco no end. When Mary appears, played initially with eagerness by Zoë O’Connor, but then with sassy forthrightness when she meets Kincaid, the sparks fly between Mary and Kincaid. She wants his job and he wants to keep it and show her up. Mary is Kincaid’s smarmy match.
Claire Jullien and Courtenay Stevens play all the other parts with tremendous style, energy, invention and creativity. Claire Jullien plays: Jonesy, Bosco’s frazzled, eager secretary; Delores, an over-the-top rich woman with an assortment of wild getups; and Gloria, a “floozy” in a tight red dress who says she reaaaaaly loves Chauncey.
Courtenay Stevens is an explosion of creative invention as: Bosco, the irritated, bellowing editor of the paper; Peter, the effected, cravat-wearing fiancé of Delores; Chauncey, a messy-haired, cross-eyed, sweet man who is smarter than he gives on; and Reginald, the sarcastic, slow-talking butler who sees everything, knows everything and has a smart remark about it all. I believe it’s Reginald who then slowly and with a smirk pushes the clever set of Bosco’s office around to reveal Delores’ rich house (bravo to Beckie Morris for another creative set).
Screwball Comedy is hilarious in every single way. From Norm Foster’s wiseacre, smart dialogue to the cast who play it very straight and know how to float that dialogue so that it doesn’t seem archaic. Think Damon Runyon. Terrific.
-Lynn Slotkin, The Slotkin Letter