Colleges concocting contrasting comedies

Tom Titus

Everything old is new again at Costa Mesa’s two institutions of

higher learning -- Orange Coast College and Vanguard University.

Vanguard, which recently presented Agatha Christie’s celebrated

whodunit “The Mousetrap,” springs back into action next week with a

revival of Brandon Thomas’ 19th-century British farce, “Charley’s

Aunt.” The next week finds OCC raising the curtain on a less-familiar

property, “Fortinbras,” which could be accurately titled, “Hamlet,

Part II.”

“Charley’s Aunt” bears a topical resemblance to OCC’s production

of period piece “The Importance of Being Earnest,” in that it

involves two young men, Jack and Charley, looking for romance in

stiff-upper-lip Victorian English society.

According to the custom of the time, the two lads require a

chaperone to keep company with their ladies -- a situation remedied

by the pending visit of Charley’s aunt, Donna Lucia. When she doesn’t

arrive as scheduled, however, the frantic young men recruit a fellow

collegian to impersonate the auntie -- in drag.

Old timers may remember the original movie with Jack Benny in the

title role or the subsequent musical version, “Where’s Charley?”

which starred Ray Bolger and introduced the hit song “Once in Love

With Amy.”

“Charley’s Aunt,” directed by Vanguard theater head Susan K.

Berkompas, will be staged Nov. 15 through 24 with performances at 9

p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and at 2 p.m.

Sundays in the Lyceum Theater of Vanguard University, 55 Fair Drive,

Costa Mesa. Call (714) 668-6145 for reservations.

OCC’s “Fortinbras,” written by Lee Blessing, puts a comic spin on

Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy -- or rather, it begins where “Hamlet”

left off. Fortinbras, the prince of Norway, arrives to take

sovereignty of Denmark, stepping over an array of bodies from the

original play’s grisly finale.

Fortinbras, a character frequently cut from modern productions of

“Hamlet,” becomes the central figure in this play, a wisecracking and

cynical fellow who spreads the story that the murders of the royal

family were perpetrated by a Polish spy. His ultimate plan is to

forge the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway into one invincible power --

to be called Denway (or perhaps Normark; he’s not sure).

“This play is reminiscent of, and equal to, Tom Stoppard’s

masterpiece ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,’” noted OCC

theater department head Alex Golson, who is directing the production.

The college has presented that play and several versions of

“Hamlet” over the years, including the modern offshoots “The

15-Minute Hamlet” and “I Hate Hamlet.”

“Fortinbras,” which was selected by Time magazine as one of the 10

best plays of the 1990s, will be presented for two weekends, Nov. 21

to Dec. 8, skipping Thanksgiving weekend. Performances will be given

at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays in the

Drama Lab Theatre. For more information, call (714) 432-5880.

* TOM TITUS writes about and reviews local theater for the Daily

Pilot. His stories appear Thursdays and Saturdays.