Unadilla opens with classic farce
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Pinglet (David Klein) professes his passion for the reluctant Mme. Paillardin (Christine Ducharme) in the Unadilla Theatre production of Feydeau’s “A Little Hotel on the Side.” Jim Lowe/Times Argus |
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By Jim Lowe Times Argus Staff - Published: July 1, 2009
MARSHFIELD – French playwright Georges Feydeau is considered the forerunner of absurdist theater, but his farce, “A Little Hotel on the Side (L’Hotel du Libre-Echange),” is more reminiscent of the British slapstick comedy “Noises Off.”
Unadilla Theatre opened its 30th season Sunday at its playhouse with a ridiculously funny production of “Hotel,” one that was only possible with the unique characters found in this rural community theater.
Feydeau (1862-1921) wrote his first serious play at the age of 20 and quickly became prominent in France for his “boulevard farces” satirizing Paris society of the Belle Époque. His farces are filled with misunderstandings, fast-paced dialogue, sexual high-jinx and lots of slapstick humor. “Hotel” was adapted for Broadway as “Hotel Paradiso,” which became a 1956 feature film starring Alec
Guiness and Gina Lollabrigida.
The plot follows the building contractor Pinglet as he tries to seduce the wife of his neighbor and best friend. Marcelle Paillardin finds Pinglet singularly unattractive, but agrees to a tryst after her husband insists that affection is not in his marital agreement.
When Mme. Pinglet leaves to spend the night at her sister’s, Pinglet and Mme. Paillardin check into a seedy hotel for “married couples, but not necessarily to each other.” It isn’t long before they discover that not only is Mme. Paillardin’s husband staying at the same hotel, so is their nephew Maxime with Pinglet’s maid Victoire. If that weren’t enough, the adulterous couple runs into a family friend and his four daughters.
Finally, the police raid the hotel. Through amazing twists and turns, the blame is laid squarely on Paillardin and Mme. Pinglet. It’s a riot.
The wide disparity of acting levels in Unadilla’s production, directed by Tom Blachly, makes this farce all the funnier. Unadilla has always been an ideal place for amateurs to learn to act, and this is one case where any difficulties (though there were very few muffed lines) only add to the humor.
Uniquely, at Sunday’s opening night performance, Christina Ducharme delivered a fully dimensional and nuanced performance as the unhappy wife, Marcelle Paillardin. She was countered by a brazenly comic – and hilarious – performance by David Klein as the philandering Pinglet.
Talented up-and-comers were Kate Harrington as the maid Victoire and Julian Kasow as the Paillardins’ nephew Maxime. Bob Belenky was an absolutely wonderful caricature as the hotel’s proprietor Bastien. And Kassandra Morse, Cypress Ellen, Maddy Morse and Gala Morse, as the four children, proved thoroughly entertaining as the four children.
Unadilla’s “A Little Hotel on the Side” is ribald and hilarious.