My mother always said laughter is good for digestion. If that’s true, then my turkey burger last Friday went to all the right places as I watched the opening night of Drama Dock’s production of “The Curious Savage.”
Director Michael Barker and assistant director Antonia Greene have guided the ensemble cast to comic success with this light piece about the heavy subjects of greed and insanity.
Written by John Patrick in 1950, “The Curious Savage” was the fourth in a series of about seven plays that the author ultimately staged. His most famous work, “Teahouse of the August Moon,” won him Pulitzer and Tony awards for drama and was ultimately adapted to the screen. “The Curious Savage” blends dramatic observation with satirical comedy, causing the audience to laugh and then ponder.
The story takes place in a posh sanitarium, The Cloisters, immediately post World War II. Scene one introduces each of the patients as they anxiously await the arrival of the new, wealthy and famous resident, Ethel Savage. Playwright Patrick clearly aimed to make the audience fall in love with these sweet — anything but psychopathic — characters. And the Drama Dock cast makes that strategy work.
Sue DeNies as Florence delivers subtlety of character development, slowly revealing Florence’s reason for being at The Cloisters. Michael Shook’s Hannibal never misses a beat as the autistic statistician who dispenses wisdom numerically. Elise Morrill as Fairy May steals just about every scene she’s in with her cavalier dives into hilarity. Max Lopuszynski holds down the drama end with his touching portrayal of a shell-shocked war veteran. And Marjon McDermott, in her stage debut, does as much with mime as she does with her few lines to conjure surprise and hearty laughs. These lovelies set the stage, literally, for Cynthia Perkins to enter as the eccentrically delightful Ethel Savage.
Pursued by her three greedy stepchildren, Perkins as Ethel owns the stage, appearing in every subsequent scene. Her character is the poignant, eccentric and compassionate lynch pin for the story’s progression. And she hits it on all cylinders from start to finish.
Ethel is the sole heir to her husband’s $10 million fortune. She’s been spending it — and her stepchildren’s inheritance — on frivolity, like a tombstone for a flower peddler’s beloved horse and a worldwide cruise for 1,000 poor children. Her three avaricious stepchildren, played with ample spoilage by Jeffrey Jones, Shannon Mahan and Gregg Rocheford, have committed her to The Cloisters in an effort to squeeze from her the whereabouts of the bonds into which she poured the entire fortune.
Like time, pressure reveals true character, and the ugly three provide more laughs as they betray each other with foolish chicanery in their attempts to get the gold for themselves. Meantime, the Cloisters’ patients shine on in sharp contrast.
In comedy, timing is everything; it’s obvious Barker and his cast worked diligently on that aspect of the play. A lot of hard work also went into the exquisitely detailed set rendered by Drama Dock stalwarts Phil Dunn, Gordon Millar, Pete Kreitner and Gaye Detzer, with help from Michael Shook, Michael Barker and Roger Newby.
This light comedy with heavy undertones will, as director Barker put it, make you “laugh at the gentle comedy and enjoy pondering the nature of sanity as you leave.” In short, “The Curious Savage” is just what theater should be.
— Susan McCabe is an island writer and Voice of Vashon’s station manager.
Evening performances of “The Curious Savage” begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Vashon High School theater. A matinee is at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are sold at the Vashon Bookshop and at the door.
