BWW Reviews: The Explorers Club. Mad Cap Fun at the Mad Cow

Have you ever dreamt of traveling to exotic lands? Discovering new and uncharted territories? Coming face to face with some of nature's most dangerous creatures? If you answered yes to any of these questions, a membership into one of the most exclusive clubs in London could be just the thing for you. However, do not just ask for a drink at the bar or you could find yourself falling into a ridiculous matter of circumstance.

The Explorers Club is an off-the-wall farce set in 1879 London about the members of this club. The play pokes fun at National Geographic and hits close to home for those longtime locals of Orlando who remember the iconic Adventurers Club at Downtown Disney, and their zany hobbies.

Farce always seems to get a bad wrap in the theatre. It is often considered a low-brow cousin of smarter, wittier comedies. Yet farce is one of the most challenging genres to produce because it relies so heavily on rhythm and pace. Luckily, The Explorers Club is nothing but an entertaining, jolly good time, with hearty act two laughs.

As the only woman in the play, Heather Lombardi is delightful in act one as a pioneer explorer who makes an uncharted discovery, the NaKong Tribe of the Lost City of Pahatlabong. To prove her worth to the Explorers Club, Phyllida Spotte-Hume brings back one its indigenous people as an entrance exam into the club. Despite her discovery, the men of the club want no part of this woman even if she may have made an unprecedented discovery...that's straight white men for ya.

Phyllida Spotte-Hume introduces the club to one of Pahatlabong's indigenous people, Luigi. The culture shock is as jarring to the gentlemen of the Explorers Club as it is for Luigi. Simple gestures such as a handshake to the members mean something very different to Luigi, and something very hilarious to us.

Explorers Club is full of all those wonderfully timed gags that make farce a pure delight including; animals on the loose, mistaken identities, and entrances/exits. The show does lack door slamming as a result of an incomplete set but despite the shows one flaw it never loses its rapidly funny heartbeat.

The comedically gifted cast hits its marks and knows how to keep sustained laughter from its audience throughout the run. Dennis Enos as the hysterically dry Professor Walling and Eric Pinder as the quirky botanist, Lucius Fretway, deliver strong performances.

Playwright Nell Benjamin scripts some hilarious one-liners that are so silly and enjoyable they remind me comedy can be downright frivolous and entertaining at the same time. Known for writing the book to Legally Blonde The Musical, a musical that is much better than it ever should have been, and a disjointed adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, Benjamin has a unique charm to her writing that promotes strong female characters. Unsurprisingly, Nell's next project is a collaboration with Tina Fey to be adapt the 2004 film sensation, Mean Girls into a musical.

Theatre is always meant to be a device in which great ideas can be presented to audiences. Ideas that raise debates, spark conversations on the drive home, and affect you in ways that film and tv are simply incapable of accomplishing. However, every once in a while, theatre should be the place where you unapologetically laugh at the silliness unfolding on stage and seeing the Mad Cow's success of The Explorers Club, I feel compelled to believe that experiencing a play of such style should come more frequently.

The Explorers Club runs through February 22nd. For tickets visit their website.

To post a comment, you must register and login.