By Gerard Falco.
The Armonk Players are presenting The Foreigner at the Whippoorwill Community Theatre in Armonk for a limited 6 night engagement ending on Saturday December 8th, 2018. This dark comedy was written by Larry Shue in the 1980’s as a farcical rendition of what he felt was the resurgence of the Klu Klux Klan in that era. It is perhaps just as prescient today. This high-quality production is directed by Pia Haas and produced by Rod Berro.
The setting is an aging fishing lodge in rural Georgia. The lodge is owned by the elderly and gracious Betty Meeks (Chris Jamison). One of her dearest and regular guests is Sgt. “Froggy” LeSueur (Jeff Schlotman) a retired British commando. He brings with him on this visit an old friend Charlie Baker (Keith Young) , a meek and mild-mannered Brit who works as a science fiction editor. Charlie has his own bag of troubles back home and has second thoughts about making this trip. He particularly loathes having to speak to strangers while Froggy is away from the lodge performing military maneuvers. To solve this problem, they tell Betty that Charlie does not speak any English. Having a genuine “foreigner” in her lodge very much charms Betty and her other guests. These include the young and wealthy debutante Catherine Simms (Cassie White) and her simple-minded brother Ellard Simms (Richard Lauria), Catherine is engaged to marry the Reverend David Marshall Lee (Zachary Curtin).
The guests have never traveled beyond their local community and are totally intrigued by Charlie Baker. They speak confidentially to him about their problems assuming he understands nothing, when in-fact he understands everything. He is the veritable fly on the wall. The plot thickens when he learns the dark secrets of the Reverend Lee and his cohort who is the local yokel building inspector Owen Musser (Scott Brannon). While all the guests imagine that the non-English speaking “foreigner” is a simpleton, it is in-fact Charlie’s actions that prove just the opposite. Better yet, he has a keen conscience and tries to set things right.
The play is set in two acts separated by an intermission. Running time is about an hour and a half. The community theatre is small and intimate with very good seating and acoustic qualities. The single set interior of the lodge (designed by David Morabito) is clever and rich in detail. Keeping the audience’s attention is helped by having the actors constantly move about the stage while they deliver their lines. Costuming (by Keith Hammond) and props are simple and apropos. The set lighting and special effects (by Rodd Berro) are nicely done. The tempo of the play is on the slower side, but it builds toward a climactic ending.
Charlie Baker is the centerpiece of this play. His excellent costuming and mannerisms are very reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin, and Keith Young plays the role fabulously. He is supported by other powerful veteran performances including Scott Brannon as the evil and narrow-minded Owen Musser, Jeff Schlotman as Sgt. “Froggy” LeSueur and Chris Jamison as the sweet lodge owner Betty Meeks.
Larry Shue’s depiction of the of the rural south is clearly unrealistic and overblown, but it is by magnifying the personalities and issues in this play that his point is made. Two friends exchanging goodnights as they left the theatre were overhead saying; “Goodnight, that was great”. I wouldn’t disagree.
Running Time: Approximately 1 1/2 hours with one intermission.
The Foreigners is playing at the Whippoorwill Theater until December 8th, 2018. The theater is located at 19 Whippoorwill Rd. East, Armonk NY. For tickets click here.