Charley’s Aunt, written and first staged in the late 1800’s, is a hilarious farce. It sets the mind and heart at ease by being a play which excels at seriously not taking itself seriously.
NEIU’s own Stage Center Theatre had their version of Charley’s Aunt open this last Thursday, Oct. 2. To say the least the show was beautifully done.
Stage Center Theatre’s partial modernizing of the classic farce is a joyous trip through the standard tenets of farce that even, occasionally, gets some silent involvement from the audience. The storyline is one that features love, conflict, cross-dressing, deception and the ever-hilarious mistaken identity. It’s a breeding ground for sidesplitting laughter, if the right people are chosen for the roles to accentuate the delivery of the various jokes given throughout the play. For more background on the play and its story you can either go to www.neiu.edu~stagectr or look for Michelle Jacobson’s preview article, which was printed in the Sept. 23 issue.
Since the topic of people in roles was brought up, I guess we should move on to the topic of casting. The casting was great. These are very talented individuals. Yes, some of the scenes are over-acted to the point of ridiculousness, but it’s a farce. The bigger the act, the better it is.
Dan Wirth, a director who I have had the pleasure of working with in the past, did a wonderful job with directing. Blocking, though it worked, occasionally left a blocked view from the side seats. However, it still worked, especially on the occasions where the cast actually was supposed to be speaking in a way where they are addressing the audience but no one else.
Costumes gave a feel for the time frame that they decided to modernize to the 1930s. It just works incredibly well.
Set design and lighting was simplistic. However, considering how simple it was, it was still effective. It had a feeling that was a mixture between homely, and some cases gaudy. However since we’re in houses through most of the play and the characters are rich, it worked.
So the bottom line is that you should see the play. Laugh and enjoy yourself. Other shows are Oct. 9-11 and 16-18 starting at 7:30 p.m. To those who work in front of and behind the scenes: Break a leg.