SeattleActor.com

So lighten up already. Sure, the top professional and semi-pro theatres in Seattle are where the most important plays and musicals are usually to be found, but there’s another whole venue where solid, admirable theatre is regularly performed. Community theatre, that easy subject of “Waiting for Guffman” derision, is also a place where actors and directors of considerable skill and experience perform proven and sometimes relatively daring plays, as well as revivals of the standard repertoire. Beyond that, amateur theatres are also an important asset of the community or neighborhood, where talent with day-jobs provide entertainment and cultural enrichment to an appreciative audience.
I was staying with friends in Edmonds, and thought I’d use the opportunity to visit the Driftwood Players, a community theatre now in its forty- ninth season. What more perfect show than “Arsenic and Old Lace”, a sixty year-old classic of farce with a black comedy sensibility? My companion was a delightful woman of social security years who does not regularly go to the theatre, and who only knew the story from the familiar Frank Capra film. We both had a delightful evening, and while many of the weaknesses and inconsistencies one expects from amateur-level theatre were evident, it was also remarkably accomplished, quite elegantly mounted, and thoroughly enjoyable.
Of course, the key to this sardonic little tale of two spinster sisters with a regrettable habit of poisoning decrepit old men and burying them in the basement is the likeability of the sisters. Both Margaret Bicknell and Carol Jean Chandler had energy, sweetness and an off-kilter sincerity that kept everything so very reasonably outrageous. Equally important is the stable nephew, Mortimer, played with charming earnestness by Travis Gamble. There were times, especially in the first act, when his mugging got a bit broad, but for most of the performance his acting was well-proportioned and his engagement convincing. I particularly liked his next door fiancé, Elaine, quite nicely crafted by Larisa Peters.
Beyond the immediate family, the rest of the cast is liberally populated with lunatics living at various removes from the asylum. Stealing the show was a perfectly cast Jay Irwin, who believes he’s Teddy Roosevelt, charging San Juan hill each time he ascends the stairs. The black-sheep brother, Jonathan, who looks like Boris Karloff, was played with looming menace by Glenn Nestlerode, and his plastic surgeon accomplice, Dr. Einstein (Herman, not Albert) was given a very amusing turn by Ian Gerrard. A variety of comic policemen and pillars of the community came and went, stirring the plot’s absurd stew. Notable also was the beautiful and surprisingly rich physical production, with an elegant and beautifully dressed box-set by Ralph Eaton, and richly detailed costumes by Laura Kessler. Solid lighting was by Keith A. Gehrig.
There were certainly enough instances of over-done acting, occasionally diffused dramatic focus, and forced or wooden line-deliveries, but director J. D. Lloyd kept the action moving at a nice pace, and there was an obvious pleasure in the performance that delivered considerably more freshness in this production than one might have expected from such an antique script. For me, the satire of young Mortimer’s life as a drama critic, that “dreadful night job”, was particularly amusing.

In the end, this was an entirely enjoyable evening of thoroughly traditional theatre. Some good laughs, obvious effort and commitment from the cast, excellent production values, a handsome and hospitable theatre, and an easy, unpretentious sense of ordinary people doing their best to entertain their friends and neighbors. My companion was delighted, and anxious to return for another production. Not a bad thing, is it?