Four More Short Plays Loosely Linked by the Theme of Crime

Charles Edward Pipe
Low Bar Theatre
theSpace on the Mile

Four More Short Plays Loosely Linked by the Theme of Crime

For the most punch for your pound, you cannot go wrong by sampling from the offerings of short play genre. There seem to be more than a few companies who are skilled in presenting these kinds of skits. There may be included one “serious” piece but, for the most part, the short play genre is meant to be entertaining and good fun.

I think these grow from early television’s comedy shows. In the US, there was Ernie Kovaks, Jack Benny and later Carol Burnett. In the UK, there were Morecambe, Monkhouse, Cooper and later Monty Python. They worked hard but they were masters. Skits = set-up, punchline. It was aimed at everyone.

Here we have Four which have as their theme Crime. This is by no means high drama.

Two American-West gunslingers who have kidnapped an Englishman are transporting a pair of whales to Salt Lake City. A rich man has died without a will but with an industrious “friend” who finds an artist / calligrapher to forge the signature on a will. A suburban Macbeth and gangsters Ronnie and Johnny round out the criminals.

It’s reassuring to see actors who play well with each other and can save each other, say, when your very fake moustache keeps falling off. Sometimes, that is where the funniest stuff comes from. The material is not only well suited to the medium (sort plays) but also taps the best from the performers, singly and ensemble. Charles Edward Pipe seems to be writing for this genre and this milieu and this cast.

The aim is usually the maximum silliness. And these are veteran pranksters: actors, writer, director.

Reviewer: Catherine Henry Lamm

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