REVIEW: Out of Order

Wade P Wood (Richard Willey) and Kevin Craft (The Waiter) in the Denver Vic's “Out of Order." Photo Credit: Dell Dominik

British playwright Ray Cooney has an impressive track record for cranking out bawdy, boisterous farces, many of which, like Run for Your Wife, have become favorites among amateur and semi-professional theatre companies and their audiences. These are crowd pleasers, pure and simple--or rather, saucy and complicated--with just the right balance of racy innuendo, benign deceptions escalating into preposterous and hilariously convoluted fabrications, fast-paced dialogue, one-liners and asides, untimely interruptions and discoveries, and punctuated by the sound of ringing phones and slamming doors. The ending, if not always truly happy, at least comes as a relief.

Cooney's hit comedy Out of Order, currently playing at the Denver Victorian Playhouse has all this, and throws in a balcony window with a mind of its own for good measure.

If you're going to go this far over the top, better make sure your cast can make a mountain out of a molehill and then ascend its dizzying heights. Director Joseph Staab has assembled just such a cast, including the Vic's owner and actor extraordinaire Wade P. Wood as a government minister caught with his pants down, the ever dependable Dell Dominik as a suspicious hotel manager, goofy Kevin Kraft as a mercenary waiter, tall and tremulous Austin Terrell as a fidgety functionary, Seth Maisel as a brutish cry baby, Ann K. Flynn, Ellen Long and Amanda Goldrick who stay in character even when slinking around in lingerie, Fiona Turnbull as a befuddled maid, and Wade Livingston as a body that just won't stay put.

The action takes place in a hotel room, where the government minister has his own idea for what constitutes a bipartisan domestic affair, but is interrupted by the discovery of a body in the window. There's a lot of "Weekend at Bernie's" type humor involving shuttling the body around, dressing and bringing it to "life," and then there's that amazing window, which holds its own against any number of competing doors for slamming on cue.

Sure, an argument could be made that farces like Out of Order flirt with illicit behavior, that they tease and titillate, or that they're just plain silly. But really, the consequences of any intended infidelity are so outrageous, so embarrassing, it's really more of a deterrent to misbehavior than an incentive. No one in the audience would aspire to be like any of the characters who manage to get into so much trouble.

Get out of the house and go over to the Vic to see Out of Order. It's loads of lightweight fun. Just don't forget to slam the door behind you!

Out of Order plays at the Denver Victorian Playhouse through October 4, 2008. Call 303-433-4343 or visit www.denvervic.com.