THEATER REVIEW

Tom Titus

How do you put on a comedy centered on two furriers and their clients

in this day and age when donning coats from material formerly occupied by

animals borders on social felony? Simple -- just set it in 1936, when fur

coats were not only accepted but highly coveted.

The subject matter might explain why the Ray Cooney-John Chapman

comedy “Not Now, Darling” hasn’t surfaced locally in three decades. But

director Terri Miller Schmidt is playing it as a period piece at the

Newport Theatre Arts Center, and even the most anti-fur activist should

get a chuckle out of it, if not an outright belly laugh.

“Not Now, Darling” is one of those typical British sex farces so

popular in the 1970s, in which libidinous gents and nubile young ladies

engage in various adventures that involve the female performers getting

down to their scanties as the male members engage in a series of

cover-ups -- of their chicanery, not, rest assured, of the actresses.

What distinguishes this particular piece is the rapid-fire double and

triple entendre, which makes the dialogue nearly as funny as the action.

At Newport, all concerned are heavily involved in the merriment, but the

two chaps in the center are pushing all the comedy buttons.

Howard Patterson and David Colley play partners who operate an upscale

London fur salon, and they could have been models for Neil Simon’s “Odd

Couple.” Patterson’s character is ultraconservative and terrified of any

whiff of scandal, while Colley is a predatory prowler who resembles an

overly stimulated Ernie Kovacs, using a prized mink to lure a young lady

into his boudoir.

Both Colley and his intended conquest (Kerri Vickers) are married,

which presents another set of problems, particularly when the defiant

lady sheds her garments and her suspicious husband (Walter DuRant), who’s

buying a fur for his own mistress (Juliette Finch), arrives.

Patterson, meanwhile, strives to keep everything aboveboard, which

means tossing the ladies’ clothes out the window periodically and

generally impersonating an agitated Arthur Treacher, at which he is

excellent.

His interaction with the partners’ comely secretary (Gigi Fusco

Meese), who fancies him for reasons unexplained by the playwrights, is

particularly well-fashioned.

Colley’s spouse (Sherryl Wynne) returns disastrously early from a

trip, further complicating the plot, while a wealthy client (Tony Grande)

and his exasperated wife (Lorie Verwiel-Mumper) appear alternately in

search of one another, and Finch’s jealous husband (Christopher Anzalone)

adds an ominous seasoning to the mixture. Grande makes the most of his

brief stage time with some pungently underplayed comedy, but Wynne’s

choice of a cutesy speech pattern often is annoying.

“Not Now, Darling” may not be up to the high comic velocity of English

farce set by such plays as “Noises Off,” but it’s brimming with chuckles

nevertheless. Bolstering the show’s appeal are the attractive period

costumes from TLC Costume Design and the furriers’ workplace, designed by

Helen Fearon and Shannon Shute, with set dressing by the director.

There’s much more coming off than going on in “Not Now, Darling,”

which is back with us after a much-too-long absence. This is comedy for

the pure fun of it.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Thursdays and Saturdays.

FYI

* WHAT: “Not Now, Darling”

* WHERE: Newport Theatre Arts Center, 2501 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays until

Dec. 16

* COST: $13

* PHONE (949) 631-0288