DEADLY, FARCE

posted by James Reel

    In the latest Tucson Weekly, I give measured approval to Beowulf Alley’s Chekhov compilation …

    Anton Chekhov's characters can be so annoying. The whining, the self-pity, the vanity, the depression ... for all their psychological acuity, Chekhov's serious plays are nearly done in by one or two dreary figures who render their households a slough of despond simply because nobody has the temerity to give them a swift kick in the butt.
    Chekhov's farces, on the other hand, thrive on annoying characters. You can't have a good farce unless the characters are so self-absorbed that they utterly fail to communicate. The whining, the self-pity, the vanity, the depression ... it's so ridiculously funny.
    Well, it is half the time, judging from Beowulf Alley Theatre Company's current production of four Chekhov farces. Two of the half-hour pieces hit every mark; the other two, despite the company's best efforts, founder, because as a playwright, Chekhov couldn't give himself a swift kick in the butt.

Ira Levin's Deathtrap is splendid mystery entertainment the first time around, abounding in surprises and reversals and refusing to take itself at all seriously, though never devolving into silliness. On second viewing and beyond, however, its central conceit does become tiresome: playwrights working on a murder mystery that anticipates the events in their lives, which constitute the play we're seeing. If you've never seen Deathtrap, it's tremendous fun; if you've seen it before, repeat performances wear like a joke that's been told a bit too often. Tucson Theatre Ensemble opened its production of Deathtrap last weekend, and despite some unevenness, it's a good introduction to the play.