By Brandy Lee
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/ndpr/local-ndpr-958692.mp3
Fargo, ND – For 27 years, the Harwood Prairie Playhouse has annually produced a comedy, often to sold-out audiences. This year, as in many previously, a farce, complete with 8 doors and a Scotsman. Under the able direction of Pam Strait, the cast of area performers manages to pull the guffaws and giggles out of the audience with puns and pratfalls.
The play opens on a set of two adjoining motel rooms, nicely executed by the technical crew. We find ourselves in the beginning stages of an awkwardly planned sting operation, with actress Missy Teeters endearing in her Barney Fifedom of newly-official small-town cop. Of course, it isn't long before someone starts taking off their clothes and someone is caught in an embarrassing moment. The play takes a tick up the hilarity meter with the entrance of Bill Lucas as the mayor's zealous security guard. In his over-seriousness, Bill plays Mr.-I've-got-a-gun-and-you-don't perfectly.
Enter the Scotsman, played by Taylor Schatz. The character is written with a Scottish brogue that becomes so thick when angered that no one can understand him---which of course makes him really crazy. Which is a bad idea since he's a murderer. Taylor Schatz is hysterically funny as the lunatic in a kilt, complete with bagpipes. The cast includes John and Katherine Noone, delightful as the Mayor and his Mrs., and Adam Harfield and Amanda Eide, appropriately awkward and geeky in their roles as cop and accountant.
Costuming, lights and sound complement the production, and even the curtain call is fun! As this well-cast production settles into it's run, the occasionally awkward lines and pace will likely smooth themselves out, and the tempo di farce will prevail.
Unnecessary Farce by Harwood Prairie Playhouse runs through March 27, with performances in the Dawson Hall at Bonanzaville.
Other upcoming live performances in Fargo-Moorhead include the ballet of Sleeping Beauty, presented by the FM Ballet Company. Two family-friendly performances of Tchaikovsky's masterpiece run this coming weekend at Festival Concert Hall on the NDSU campus. Performances are Saturday, March 19 at 7pm, and Sunday, March 20, at 2pm. A rare opportunity for Fargo-Moorhead audiences to see a full ballet, tickets are 10. for youth, and 20. for adults.
Also coming up this week are school productions, which include Seussical at Oak Grove High School and Story Theatre at Concordia College. Next month, look for Tales of the Lost Formicans from NDSU Theatre Department, and Tartuffe, presented by MSUM.
For Prairie Public, I'm Brandy Lee.