So enjoy the show and dontcha hopni skipni truda wudsk. And sometimes the things that we find unusual are really not all that strange. The revival of Shues play currently running at the Metropolis in Arlington Heights. If we keep an open mind and look beyond the differences that are all around us, we can begin to appreciate those things and increase our own understanding of the world. Unfortunately, a well-written play is not guarantee of a successful show. Like Charlie, I have also stepped outside of my comfort zone and I have learned a lot about myself as a result. There is no doubt in my mind that this show would not be the performance that you are about to watch without the help of these 9 individuals. While directing this show, I have had several opportunities to learn from my talented cast. During the course of the production, I have been reminded that it is essential to embrace the differences that exist among us and to take every opportunity to get to know yourself. One of the things I like most about The Foreigner are the many lessons that we can take away from it. Information: 31, show worth directing has a message to convey. Tickets: $15-$27, plus $1 ticket service fee Friday-Saturday, through July 15 (Added shows 2 p.m. So, while David Lawrence charms as Charlie, and Dean gives a startlingly creepy but subtle performance as a reverend without reverence, we’re left feeling badly manipulated.ĭavid Graham directs, with nice onstage details and with affection for the characters even when we might be losing ours.ĭany Margolies is a Los Angeles-based writer. Here, without apparent irony, the “Southern” accent takes a beating, while the smart guys speak in British accents. But that goes not just for race and religion, but also for regionality and levels of education. These days we don’t need white sheets and pointy pillowcase hoods to recognize wholesale hatred. And as if this weren’t enough, someone added to the script a few lines about making America great again. At his worst, he’s a Klansman, spouting vile hatred for the rest of us. Owen Musser (Gregg Lawrence) is the town villain. However, the script has a darker side, which pummels the audience with opinions we probably already have. But foreigners will understand Americans if we shout loudly enough, right?Īll this gives the play its charming appeal, and it lets us know how we can be better, too. The expected unexpected occurs: People gravitate to him, and he begins to reclaim his true self.īetty (Madeleine Drake) eagerly welcomes him, because she’s a good soul and because she can’t travel so she’s thrilled to have a foreigner visit her. That he does fuels the nonstop hilarity of the play and sets up the wildly funny climax in which things go uproariously awry for the bad guys, and the good. Don Schlossman, left, David Lawrence and Madeleine Drake in “The Foreigner” (Photo by Mickey Elliot)įroggy also invents the fiction that Charlie is a foreigner who speaks no English, enabling the now-reclusive Charlie to avoid interacting with anyone else. He now believes he has no personality, no charm, no ability to converse with strangers.Ĭharlie is dragged to Betty Meeks’ Fishing Lodge Resort in rural Georgia by his British Army buddy Froggy LeSueur (Don Schlossman) - a character dramaturgically useful for his connection with Betty, for his skills with explosives and to jump-start the play. On its genial side, it tells of sad Charlie Baker (David Lawrence), an Englishman whose wife not only strayed but also has belittled him cruelly. Currently playing at San Pedro’s Little Fish Theatre, Larry Shue’s 1983 comedy “The Foreigner” bobs gently along, a tale about how the shyest and most self-effacing among us can still bring out the best in others.Īnd then, politics slithers through the production, possibly spoiling a night out we’ve taken to get our minds off our woes.
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