‘The Foreigner’ speaks a language of laughs

Ray Buffer

Originally slated for this time frame in the Huntington Beach

Playhouse’s schedule was Garson Kanin’s “Born Yesterday.” However,

due to booking conflicts, it had to be replaced with a far superior

comedy/farce, “The Foreigner,” by Larry Shue.

“The Foreigner,” performed in the Huntington Beach Library Theater

through Nov. 17, is directed by Orange County theater critic and

managing director of the Irvine Community Theater, Tom Titus.

The play is about Charlie Baker (Gary Page), an Englishman who is

brought by a Cockney (and sometimes Australian) friend, Sgt. Froggy

LeSueur (Dave Cunningham) to a rural Georgia fishing lodge. The

southern bed and breakfast is run by Betty Meeks (Kip Hogan), whose

property may be condemned.

Charlie hopes to rest here undisturbed and get away from his

cheating wife, who is also deathly ill. Because he is socially phobic

and a bore, Charlie pretends he’s a foreigner who can’t speak or

understand English to avoid having to deal with everyone. Ultimately,

he makes up his own dialect.

The locals assume Charlie does not understand them and speak

candidly about private matters and secret plots in front of him.

Charlie becomes privy to a scheme by the Rev. David Marshall Lee

(Josha Crowley) and KKK clansman Owen Musser (Jozeph Wise) that puts

him, his hostess, and fellow guests Catherine Simms (Christy Joy

Smith) and her brother Ellard (Joshua Collins) in danger.

Overall, the cast is wonderful, despite some occasional dips in

energy. The play starts slow, and when the pacing begins to climb, it

inevitably stalls with the entrance of each new character. This is

remedied by the middle of the first act.

On the technical side, the show, managed by Kelly Tickner, is

fluid but for one instance mid-scene in which the electricity in the

lodge goes out, yet there is no lighting change to illustrate the

difference on stage until the opening of the next scene.

The set is not overdone, but functional. Titus directs some

wonderful action sequences toward the end of the play that, although

difficult to time, come across effortlessly.

Page is convincing and immeasurably entertaining as the brooding

insecure hero, but I would have liked to see him react more to what

he was overhearing; using the fourth wall (the audience) to display

his thoughts.

Hogan is a sheer delight with her down home portrayal and

exuberant delivery. Cunningham blasts through his role with panache.

Crowley is well suited for the handsome, yet smarmy charmer role.

Smith’s manic moments are inspired, and Wise’s characterization,

although stereotypical, comes across threatening and comical in all

the right places.

The standout performance, in my opinion, is that of 20-year-old

Joshua Collins as the slow-thinking Simms sibling. Collins creates a

memorable character, complete with a consistent physical behavior,

and infuses it with humor and heart beyond what the author

envisioned.

Playwright Larry Shue, who was killed in a 1985 plane crash, won

two Obie awards and two Outer Critics Circle awards, for “The

Foreigner.”

Titus and producer Bill Verhaegen should be proud of their

entertaining production, and you should be on the phone now trying to

get tickets. Prices are $13 to $15 -- a bargain for live theater of

this caliber. Call (714) 375-0696.

* RAY BUFFER, 33, is a professional singer, actor and voice-over

artist.