There is nothing very profound about Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce, the British writer’s 1975 play that was a Broadway hit in 1979 and nominated for a Tony Award that year. That’s what makes it a fine offering for Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (CSC), which has stepped up to provide our summer theater scene with light, frothy shows with some literary merit.
The prolific Ayckbourn, whose output today includes more than 70 plays, is certainly a suitable writer for this slot in CSC’s season.
It’s a perfectly silly tale about four couples, set entirely in three cramped bedrooms on one evening and the next morning. One duo, Delia (Kate Wilford) and Ernest (Jim Hopkins), are older and comfortable as a pair of well-worn slippers. Another, frisky Kate (Sara Clark) and playful Malcolm (Jeremy Dubin), are hosting a party, to which combative Nick (Nick Rose) and Jan (Kelly Mengelkoch) are invited, as well as Trevor (Brent Vimtrup), Delia and Kate’s son, and his wife Susannah (Miranda McGee).
Bedroom Farce continues at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company downtown through Aug. 7. Go here to read Rick Pender’s full review.
This article appears in Jul 6-12, 2011.
