Review: ONE SLIGHT HITCH Courts The 80's in Austin Texas

Making it's regional debut in Austin TX, Paradox Players delights Austinites with ONE SLIGHT HITCH. Performed at the quaint and appropriate location of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin at Howson Hall Theater, Bethke Stage, director Matthew Burnett executes this patronizing patriarchy prancing about the stage. Begging the audience to remember what their living room looked like in the 80's -this farce, written by the funny man himself Lewis Black, delivers on comic diversity as it toggles between with laugh out loud jokes and sophisticatedly written puns about the culture and atmosphere surrounding the era of mall-rats. It's the summer of 1981 - and the conservative Colemans, who are naturally from Cincinnati, are preparing for their daughter Courtney's wedding. Conveniently located in their backyard, Delia (played by Mary Kennelly) runs around madly with a clipboard making sure all details have been accounted for and that nothing ruins this very special day! Alas, the doorbell rings and all hell breaks loose. In the Reagan era of a picture-perfect family, when the internet had not yet given us knowledge of just about everything, we watch as the day unravels into the unexpected comedy Lewis Black intended.

Each cast member was written with an integral part of the story to tell - embodying a piece of 1980's culture we can relate to. Doc (a doctor played by Gary Payne) is a driving force both on the page and on the stage. Speaking clearly Lewis Black's direct reactions and jokes are channeled into the way Doc perceives the world. Payne is an audience favorite with his excellent comedic timing and absurd mockery of his family's unraveling situation. Through his reactionary laid-back nature and his need for just a little more whiskey, he serves as a throwback to the 1980's sitcom father caricature - an outnumbered patriarch, ready with plenty of "dumb dad" humor. Payne plays this figure with precision and is a relatable entity which the audience can root for. Of course, to every groom there is a bride, at least in the 1980's. Delia, (Mary Kennelly) Docs wife, has intense scenes attempting to create the wedding she always wanted, in addition to living out the fantasy any mother would want for her daughter - love and happiness. A memorable scene that Kennelly nailed, was consuming some of her husbands pills to calm down. Her vocalization and physicality gliding down the stairs a few minutes after her meltdown was a highlight with laugh out loud reactions. With whiskey and pharmaceuticals acting as glue to keep this family of characters together, Black brings in the youth of the 1980's. P.B., the littlest Coleman (played by Samantha Bagdon), was an exceptionally 'cute' narrator and represented the MTV-era 80's. Creating dance breaks frequently, Bagdon added lightness and reminded us the 1980's were actually quite innocent for some.

Journeying into the 'lost youth' represented in the play, Courtney (played by Chelsea Hockaday), Melanie (played by Mindy Rast-Keenan), Harper (played by Lucas Alves) and Ryan (played by Bobby DiPasquale) serve as the troubled and confused versions of ourselves on an individual path to self discovery. Unfortunately for these characters, this navigation had to happen one wedding day in 1981. Courtney is set to marry Harper, an oddly 'sunshine and roses' kind of Englishman with little mind to the pesky details of emotion. Accepting the picture of this 'gentlemen' is a tough pill to swallow - Alves portrayal of this flamboyant groom is flat and not rooted in reality. Contrastingly, Hockaday's portrayal of Courtney, serves as the 'straight-faced' comic set up for the other outlandish characters. Enter Ryan (Dipasquale) and Melanie (Rast-Keenan). They are yet another caricature of a hedonistic youth impersonating a tramp. His physical comedy, notably in a towel and rain jacket, acted as an entertaining gag. However, it didn't overshadow his one-noted performance as the driving wedge between the Colemans' happy day. Rast-Keenan (Melanie), is P.B. and Courtney's exceptionally larger than life drunk sister. Though the play would suggest avid promiscuity, Rast-Keenan's performance was layered with an emotional understanding of her mother's wishes and hints at her hopeless romanticism.

In the summer before MTV killed the radio star, ONE SLIGHT HITCH shows audiences a glimpse of the 1980's style of situational comedy, now affectionately referred to as 'sitcom'. Lewis Black adds the more sophisticated humor of hindsight and the actors keep the energy moving with whiskey. Serving as Austin's regional debut, ONE SLIGHT HITCH is very entertaining and demands an audience grateful for an invitation to the wedding.

ONE SLIGHT HITCH

WRITTEN BY LEWIS BLACK

DIRECTED BY MATTHEW BURNETT

HOWSON HALL THEATER - BETHKE STAGE

FIRST UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF AUSTIN

4700 GROVER

NOW PLAYING: May 6-22

FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS: 8PM

SUNDAYS: 3PM

Photo Credit: Paradox Players

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: http://paradoxplayers.org

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