Theatre review: The Real Inspector Hound and Black Comedy at Pendragon Theatre

Pendragon Theatre has opened a double bill of very funny British One Acts; THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND by Tom Stoppard and BLACK COMEDY by Peter Shaffer. The Stoppard play, like most of his work, is highly intelligent verbal comedy. It parodies both Agatha Christie mysteries and theatre critics, two of whom get involved in the onstage action. BLACK COMEDY is based on the clever premise that, after a short conversation where the stage is dark, a fuse blows. The stage lights come on but the actors play as if they're in the dark. It's great fun and leads to some hilarious physical comedy. It adds to the entertainment that the same eight actors appear in both plays, in some cases playing wildly different characters.

Tijana Bjelajac has designed a clever unit set that works well for both plays, although with changes of furniture and set dressing it looks completely different in the second play. For example the raised box for the critics becomes the bedroom in BLACK COMEDY. I especially liked Brindsley's sculpture. Colin McKeen's lighting is very good, especially the tricky bits in BLACK COMEDY, and Matt Sorensen's costumes are excellent for both plays.

As for the actors, this is one of the most balanced casts I've seen at Pendragon. Donna Moschek does a nice job with two pouty ingénues, as does Christopher McGovern with two rather overbearing military men. Binnie Ritchie Holum is a bit over the top as a balletic maid and an elderly drunk, but Chris Clarke is totally believable as Harold. He's spot on with this extreme character and never lets it drift into caricature.

Fiona Christie is elegantly restrained as Lady Cynthia and plays Clea with a wonderful sense of mischief. Sam K. Shaw makes an appropriately stalwart Simon and manages to maintain a believable character while engaging in Brindsley's acrobatic physical comedy.

As the two critics Birdboot and Moon, who are initially wrapped up in their own lives and thoughts, Robert W. Pettee and Jordan Hornstein are just about perfect. Mr. Pettee is also good and almost unrecognizable as Bamberger. Mr. Hornstein is very good at handling Moon's convoluted language and also thoroughly believable as Schuppanzigh. Both these actors are terrific comedians.

Director Karen Lordi-Kirkham has done a great job of staging these two comedies, particularly the card game in INSPECTOR HOUND and the chair business in BLACK COMEDY. She's asked her actors to use British dialects, which help with the style, and they all do it quite well. For the most part she's helped her actors keep the characters real in the midst of these rather un-real plays. By the way, be sure to read the program for THE REAL MCCOY, INSPECTOR HOUND's play-within-a-play. It's very funny with clever anagrams and fictional biographies.

As in most good comedy, the humor comes from words and actions, but most of all from character. From the complicated and clever THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND to the sometimes slapstick BLACK COMEDY this is an entertaining evening of good theatre.