Review Roundup: COMMUNICATING DOORS at The Theatre Group at Santa Barbara City College!

The reviews are in for COMMUNICATING DOORS at Santa Barbara City College! A hilarious comedy by Alan Ayckbourn, COMMUNICATING DOORS opened on March 2nd, and will run through March 17th.

Let's see what the critics had to say!

Rita Moran, VC Star: With plenty of laugh lines and an abundance of physically amazing comedy, the exact story doesn't hold as much power as the fascinating action handled by experienced actors who know how to not only get the best out of a line, but also can manage falling over a balcony "wall," having a head bounced against the floor, and standing upside-down perilously close to tumbling off the balcony while continuing to twist with the variations of the plot... Director Katie Laris guides the able cast in their zany tasks and amazing physical feats so well that audiences might think they can stand on their heads or tumble over a wall with ease. That takes serious acting and lots of practice.

Maggie Yates, BroadwayWorld: Directed by Katie Laris, Communicating Doors has a talented cast and an alluring concept, but there's no good reason for this modern, British farcical comedy to run two and half hours. It's slow to take off, and meanders leisurely to conclusion, generally lacking a heightened tone to gives the jokes punch. It's certainly important to find moments of emotional realism in comedies that depends on the audience committing to the believability of absurd situations; but without a balance of madcappery to set the tone, the parade of preposterousness feels like a tiresome exercise in inefficiency.

Michelle Drown, Santa Barbara Independent: Felicia Hall gives an excellent, hilarious performance as Poopay, a dominatrix who unwittingly becomes embroiled in the mystery of the suspicious deaths of two former wives of a wealthy businessman named Reece (Matt Smith). When Poopay inadvertently goes through the communicating door and lands in the hotel room in the past she encounters Ruella, played brilliantly by Leslie Gangl Howe, and the two women become co-conspirators in trying to prevent the murder of Reece's wives, of which Ruella is one. Hall and Howe steal the show with their spot-on accents, deft comic timing, and sparkling banter, inducing well-earned laughs from the audience. The show suffered from several unfortunate technical difficulties, and at times the pacing waned, but overall it was a wonderful romp and well worth seeing.

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