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Betty’s Summer Vacation
By Christopher Durang
Directed by Joanie Schultz
Produced by Infamous Commonwealth Theatre
At Live Bait theatre
3914 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL
Call 312-458-9780, tickets $20
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM
Sundays at 3 PM
Running time is 2 hours with intermission
Through October 1, 2006
Betty’s Summer Vacation is a manic, madcap romp
Christopher Durang’s 1999 play, Betty’s Summer Vacation is a darkly hilarious satire that explores our addiction to television, especially Court TV and crime documentaries and tabloid media. Infamous Commonwealth Theatre’s one theme per season is Death--“as a means of retribution, satisfaction and entertainment.” This theatre company mounts terrific productions and Durang’s crazy comedy is in good hands here. I laughed throughout this wacky, zany satire. Christopher Durang loves to make his commentary on current American society by writing in-you-face comedies where extreme characters vividly exclaim his point of view. Here he even makes death funny.
With a set that features seven doors (nice set designed by Debbie Baer and Lee Keenan), one could expect a door-slamming farce. It sure is that and much more as we meet a collection of weird characters aptly depicting obsessed personalities.
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Betty (Erica Peregrine) is looking forward to a relaxing summer vacation at the ocean, but her housemates have other ideas. Trudy (the funny Nancy Friedrich) is the neurotic, motor-mouth female nerd who was molested by her father. Keith (Mat Labotka) is the baby-faced emotionally sensitive guy who travels with a shovel, hatbox and appears to be a serial killer type. Buck (Joshua Shulruff) is the crude, belching, beer drinking 20something who wants to have sex with every woman he meets. To round out the cast, Mrs. Siezmagraff (the terrific comedy wizard, Jennifer Mathews), Trudy’s mother and the landlord who decides to become another summer guest. When she invites the rain coated dick-waver Mr. Vanislaw (Paul Joseph) to dinner the mayhem begins only to be interrupted by the voices from the ceiling that appear to be from a TV laugh track.
The action never lets up. The doors keep slamming and the characters attack, mock and satirize everything from incest to rape to promiscuity to murder. Since we quickly like these folks, especially the commanding Mrs. Siezmagraff, we laugh at their antics and eagerly await the next unpredictable event. The voices start to talk back to the characters after using their laugh track to annoy them. This device works to underscore and give depth to this wild farce.
By act two, one guy has is penis cut off and eventually loses his head, literally. The actions get crazy and unpredictable but the laughs keep coming so fast that we get tired from so many belly laughs. This is a crude, angry, unapologetic comedy that is both clever and original yet silly and burlesque. The cast works hard, screams a lot and manically pounds every ounce of humor from Durang’s script.
Nancy Friedrich’s Trudy was a hoot and Joshua Shulruff’s Buck nailed their roles. Jennifer Mathews’ Mrs. Siezmagraff was a delight as she led the way and anchored this madcap adventure. The plot is smart and when the ‘voices’ come to life, the show moves to another level of comedic satire.
Betty’s Summer Vacation will be greatly appreciated by those who go to theatre for pure escapism and light entertainment. It is raw and sexual yet perversely funny.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: September 2, 2006
Jeff Recommended
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