By John Quinn
"Lovers, Liars & Lunatics" continues at The Purple Rose Theatre Company through May 24. Photo: Sean Carter Photography
The arrival of spring brings a fresh outlook to winter-weary Michigan, and a little levity is as welcome as a bed of crocuses. The Purple Rose Theatre Company is happy to oblige. Guy Sanville directs six top-notch performers in "Lovers, Liars & Lunatics," a Spring Comedy Festival of new one-act plays. Like the opening night cocktail buffet The Purple Rose sets out for ink-stained wretches and legitimate patrons alike, the plays offer quite a variety. Some are sweet, some are spicy, and a couple of them are downright surreal. But the entire selection is delectable.
Six playwrights have contributed to "Lovers, Liars & Lunatics": Carey Crim, Jeff Daniels, Kirsten Knisely, Lauren Knox, David MacGregor and Craig Pospisil. There are 10 plays (plus "Prologue"), so it's obvious some authors contributed more than one work. There are only six actors in the ensemble: Lauren Knox, Michael Brian Ogden, Rusty Mewha, Michelle Mountain, Rhiannon Ragland and Tom Whalen. It's obvious, then, that each actor plays multiple roles. Yet the one-acts gracefully segue, due largely to Sanville's unifying vision. There is such harmony that "Lovers, Liars & Lunatics" is greater than the sum of its well-written parts.
It's no coincidence, then, that the evening comes full circle – "Prologue," the first vignette, is Kirsten Knisley's set-up for the last play, her "Don't Sit under the Apple Tree." Set in 1945, long before the women's liberation movements, it's a quiet little piece that turns the tables on the standard "boy meets girl" plot. Rich girl Lauren Knox successfully pursues poor, reluctant boy Rusty Mewha to provide a gentle coda to the evening. What comes in between those scenes runs from the sublime to the ridiculously funny.
Consider Purple Rose founder Jeff Daniel's "The Anatomy of an Argument," a sextet for warriors in the battle of the sexes. The deliveries are as sharp as the writing; insults and observations are fired like precision machine gun fire. It also comes with a moral for men: "Once you're down, you STAY down!" That's to avoid the attack of "Big Mama She-Bear Gargoyles."
As a counter-point to the sweet and salty, "Just Desserts" by David MacGregor features humor as dark as good chocolate. A fed-up office worker (Michelle Mountain) takes action to expose the Notorious Pig – the co-worker swiping lunches from the break room fridge. The wickedly funny build in this play is only enhanced by Tom Whalen's no-holds-barred physical humor.
The second act holds a surprise that heightens the unity of this production. We find that Carey Crim's three contributions, "WebMD," "OK Cupid" and "Realtor.com," while complete within themselves, are pieces of a larger narrative. They tell of love lost and found again – even in the face of opposition – and prove that lovers and lunatics aren't that different.
Performed on Vincent Mountain's elegantly spare set, "Lovers, Liars & Lunatics" offers no distractions from the performances. The actors are on top of their game, demonstrating uncanny flexibility in character study and voice control. There are no duplications; every character is unique. In addition, the cast is capable of what this critic thought was a lost art – the ability to speak softly and yet project one's voice to the entire audience.
They say comedy is all in the timing. If that's true, then "Lovers, Liars & Lunatics" is runnin' like a Rolex.
REVIEW:
'Lovers, Liars & Lunatics'
The Purple Rose Theatre Company, 137 Park St., Chelsea. Wednesday-Sunday through May 24; no performance April 20. 2 hours. $18.50-42. 734-433-7673. http://www.purplerosetheatre.org
