Yes, incidental characters in plays like this — which are, after all, merely comic opportunities strung together — can be a lot funnier than they look on the page. The servant Scrub, for example, is a stock character, trying too hard at times to be helpful, but Ryan Maxwell gives him a foxy alertness, an office intern’s eagerness to please, that eventually had my audience tittering sometimes when he appeared, even before he said a word.
As a play, The Beaux’ Stratagem is a slight effort. As an evening’s entertainment, 2nd Story Theatre has perked it up into a comedy worth seeing.
Related:
High society, Encore!, I is another, More 
- High society
The current 2nd Story Theatre production — with slit-eyed coaching from the playwright — manages to make the message as familiar as yesterday.
- Encore!
Oh, what a jaded bunch of seat-warmers we can become, those of us who see a lot of theater — good theater, that is. But now and then we encounter a production or a performance that reminds us of what we knew all along.
- I is another
Lothar Berfelde was born both a generation too late and a generation too early, growing up as he did in Berlin when the Nazis were coming to power in the '30s.
- The circle game
It’s a very funny reminder that laughter can make such absurdity almost worthwhile.
- The Front Page
The Front Page 's timeless fun at 2nd Story
- A different angle
“That’s what I demand of my actors, that they come in with ideas and work,” Peckham insists. “I’m not interested in someone who stands there and says, ‘What do you want me to do?’"
- Serious business
Playwright and director Moisés Kaufman likes to say that Oscar Wilde was the first performance artist.
- History lesson
The presentation at 2nd Story Theatre is a gripping reality show, demonstrating how dramatic actual events can be, even when they’re making you think as well as feel.
- High-flying farce
Forced farce is worse than no farce at all, even when you need some badly.
- The Misanthrope
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to be perfect.
- Short ’n’ sweet
2nd Story Theatre has kicked off its Short Attention Span Theatre with Wave : seven short plays, no waiting; all but one a comedy, so not much time to rest your grin.
- Less
Topics:
Theater
, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Foods, More
, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Foods, Nuts and Edible Seeds, Tom Roberts, George Farquhar, Joe Henderson, Ed Shea, Laura Sorensen, Ryan Maxwell, Less
