There is something wonderfully quaint about the way our English-speaking neighbors across the pond relate to sex. Perhaps the secret lies in the relative formality of their everyday social intercourse, which resembles America’s in the ’50s and ’60s.
That cuteness provides a rich vein for Miners Alley Playhouse’s fun production of “Move Over Mrs. Markham.” Director Rick Bernstein keeps Ray Cooney and John Chapman’s zany script moving apace through Richard H. Pegg’s inviting set, which integrates five entrances to the living room and bedroom of a flat belonging to Philip (Robert Kramer) and Joanna Markham (Haley Johnson), children’s book publishers.
This is a British farce, so of course the plot is complicated.
Philip, like so many suspicious males, is led astray by some casual and guilty-conscience-fueled observations, in this case from his publishing partner, Henry Lodge (Verl Hite). In response to a chance encounter with a page from a love note, Lodge tells Philip that Joanna must be having an affair.
Little does Henry know that the note was written to his own wife, Linda (Leslie Randle Chapman), who, fed up with his regular indiscretions, solicited it from a suitor, Walter Pangbourne (Mike Pearl). After reading and discussing the note with Joanna, Linda had carelessly left behind one of the pages in the flat. Henry’s imaginative interpretation of the incomplete evidence leads the guileless, bookish Philip into a maelstrom of dark thoughts.
As with all well-constructed farces, Cooney and Chapman leverage a misunderstanding into a variety of embarrassing juxtapositions and, despite an overreliance on mistaken identities for laughs, a few extended, exceptionally clever double-entendres that bring down the house.
At the center of four separate and potentially overlapping affairs is the calm but determined presence of Johnson’s Mrs. Markham, who, after being disparaged by her sexually repressed husband, Philip, finds some oats to sow in the form of her deceptively swishy interior decorator, Alistair Spenlow (Christian Mast), whose mutual attraction with the hot Swedish maid, Sylvie Hauser (Laura Jo Trexler), also awaits consummation.
As you can imagine, the actors have great fun with the delicious possibilities, which come to a head in the uproarious final scene where, in classic comedic fashion, order is restored to status quo ante, with some important lessons learned. How can such frivolous extracurricular activities turn out to be so moral?
Bob Bows also reviews theater for Variety, for KUVO/89.3 FM, and for his website, . E-mail: bbows@coloradodrama.com
“Move Over Mrs. Markham” *** (out of four stars)
British farce. Presented by Miners Alley Playhouse, 1224 Washington Ave., Golden. Written by Ray Cooney and John Chapman. Directed by Rick Bernstein. Featuring Haley Johnson, Christian Mast and Laura Jo Trexler. Through May 31. 2 hours, 20 minutes. 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 6 p.m. Sundays. $20. 303-935-3044 or
