B. Hamlin, C. Davenport, B. Shovlin and B. Largess (photo: Christopher O. Banks)

Incorruptible

Reviewed January 13
Running time 2:00 - one intermission
* A Potomac Stages Pick as a funny good-time farce

Steven Carpenter directs the Potomac Region premiere of "A Dark Comedy About the Dark Ages" by Michael Hollinger, author of Red Herring which played about a year ago at the Everyman in Baltimore. An assistant professor of theatre at Villanova University who teaches playwriting, Mr. Hollinger certainly knows the technical aspects of constructing a farce, and he uses all the elements with skill in this story of the brothers in a medieval monastery faced with distinctly modern-feeling pressures of economics, commercialism, competition and a certain amount of pride. With a cast consisting primarily of Stage Guild regulars, the performance feels right in this small house and offers a great deal of fun from both the script and the performances.

Storyline: The Monks of a monastery in France during the dark ages take matters into their own hands when the relic of their saint ceases working miracles, and as a result, pilgrims stop paying to pray. They start selling relics to other monasteries, relics they create by digging up bodies from the local cemetery. Their plan works well until they are called upon to provide an incorruptible, the remains of "a saint so holy its body refuses to decay."

Director Carpenter who handled last season's lighter romp, The Underpants, brings the same level of attention to storytelling to this well structured farce. The script certainly gives him plenty of opportunities for sight gags as well as verbal ones, but such wealth of material can tempt some less disciplined directors to go off on tangents, doing damage to the structure carefully crafted by the playwright. No such tangents diffuse the humor in this script but, rather, the production matches the text with panache.

The two principal monks of note are played with superb posturing by Bill Largess as the treasurer of the monastery and Bill Hamlin as the Abbot. It is actually Largess' character who comes up with the concept of selling phony relics because "We can't sell the books, nobody else knows how to read." Every farce needs a complicating subplot and this one has a love interest between a one-eyed minstrel, the energetic Chris Davenport, his wife "in the eyes of everyone but the church and the law," the reliably inventive Marybeth Fritsky and a man from her past, the solid Jason Stiles.

With all the strengths in the leads, however, it is the supporting performances that are the most fun of all. This isn't unusual in a well structured farce for the genre provides plenty of opportunities for quirky characters whose idiosyncrasies can be annoying if over exposed but which can be very rich in smaller bites. Here Lynn Steinmetz excels as a peasant woman and Ben Shovlin delivers a superbly funny dim bulb of a novice. Then, late in the final act, Laura Giannarelli makes a fabulous entrance as the Abbess of the neighboring monastery and the energy level, the volume and the humor all step up one notch.

Written by Michael Hollinger. Directed by Steven Carpenter. Fight choreography by John Gurski. Design: Tracie Duncan (set) William Pucilowsky (costumes) Marianne Meadows (lights) Clay Teunis (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Keri Schultz (stage manager). Cast: Chris Davenport, Marybeth Fritzky, Laura Giannarelli, Bill Hamlin, Bill Largess, Ben Shovlin, Lynn Steinmetz, Jason Stiles.

Washington Stage Guild
1901 14th St. NW.
Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays & Saturdays at 8 p.m.
matinees Saturdays & Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
(240) 582-0050