Middlebury Community Players to Present BLACK COMEDY, THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND

Brighten the gloom and cold of February by going to see two of the funniest one-act comedies ever written! Middlebury Community Players presents Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy and Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound at the Town Hall Theater, Middlebury, Vermont from February 11 to 14. Thursday through Saturday shows are at 8:00, with a 2:00 matinee on Sunday the 14th. Tickets are $ $12 Thursday and $17 Fri-Sun and can be purchased at the THT box office Mon-Sat, noon-5pm in person, by calling (802) 382-9222, or online at www.townhalltheater.org.

Black Comedy, Shaffer's (Equus, Amadeus) brilliant take on classic farce, is the riotous story of the most important meeting of Brindsley Miller's career. A struggling sculptor, he finally has the chance to show his works to the world's wealthiest man. But moments before the billionaire's arrival, a power outage plunges the neighborhood into total darkness. (The audience, of course, can see everything.) Throw in surprise visits from the spinster upstairs and the antique dealer next door, the unexpected arrival of his fiancee's disapproving father, and his mischievous ex-fiancee's arriving with a plot to reenter his life, and suddenly the apartment is filled with schemes, mis-identifications, and near-misses as the characters grope their way, unseeing, toward catastrophe.

The Real Inspector Hound is Tom Stoppard's (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Jumpers, Travesties) hysterical parody of the English drawing room murder mystery. Two critics watching and commenting on the premiere of a new play find themselves inexplicably drawn into the story, forced to become characters in a mystery where the stakes prove to be deadly. Bordering on the surreal, Hound combines ingenious plotting with Stoppard's trademark wit and verbal wizardry.

Hound is directed by Trent Campbell and Black Comedy by Kate Tilton, and features talented local actors. Come join us in February for an evening of hilarious misadventures and quality theater.

Photo Credit: Trent Campbell