Josh Fingerhut

Farce is a very difficult type of comedy to do well. It takes the ability of actors to present real characters in outrageously unreal situations so that we care about what happens to them. Just using over-the-top mannerisms and loud vocalizations does not accomplish this, and what you wind up seeing onstage are caricatures rather than real people who just get caught in outrageous situations beyond their control. Such is the case with the two one acts now being presented at Santa Monica's Morgan-Wixson Theatre, The Still Alarm by George S. Kaufman and Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer.