You’d never guess that in Tysons Corner, nestled among a row of nondescript auto body shops and other industrial storefronts is a small, professional theatre producing serious work. Not that Marc Camoletti’s “Don’t Dress for Dinner” is serious. No, such a sticky little French farce could hardly be taken seriously, even by a company with serious and considerable ambition, like McLean’s 1st Stage. Yet Camoletti’s 1987 follow-up to his popular “Boeing-Boeing” is given a fairly earnest treatment by a young, energetic cast under the smart direction of Tom Prewitt.
It’s a trifle of a play, the kind of light and fizzy fare audiences use as an evening’s escape from toil and trouble, and here Prewitt pulls out all the stops to ensure that no punchline is left, well, unpunched. Based on Camoletti’s “Pyjamas pour Six,” married mopes Jacqueline and Bernard have both taken a lover, and a cozy weekend in the country becomes the perfect setting for mistaken identities, lover’s quarrels, and other sundry comedic confusion. There’s three men, one madame, two mistresses named Suzy, and one expensive Chanel coat — not to mention a converted barn with bedrooms bedecked as the “cow shed” and the “piggery.” All would seem fair in love and war, if only our lovestruck loons could decide who is sleeping where, and with whom.
| Onstage |
| ‘Don’t Dress for Dinner’ |
| Where: 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Road, McLean |
| When: Through Oct. 2. 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays |
| Info: $15 to $25, 703-854-1856, 1ststagetysons.org |
There’s a perfectly-pitched cadence to Robin Hawdon’s spry English adaptation, and thankfully, Prewitt’s company is attuned to his not-so-subtle rounds. Both Evan Crump and Katie Nigsch-Fairfax deliver their husband and wife as plum, spoiled Brits who simply must have their cake and eat it, too. Among a rash of spotty dialects throughout the show (which run the gamut from German to Russian with other grey Slavic notes), Joshua Dick fares best as the lanky Frenchman stuck in the middle of such a randy couple, and he exercises his Robert with a nimble tongue and an Ashton Kutcher-esque physique. Jessica Shearer Wilson’s Suzanne is aptly dim and deliciously dumb, but Liz Dutton is the real bright spot as Suzette, the cook who thinks she knows too much.
It all plays out on Tobias Harding’s beautiful farmhouse set, an ideal landing for a weekend romp by a pair of chic Londoners, and Cheryl Patton Wu’s costumes steal the show with her scene-stopping fashions. And while “Don’t Dress for Dinner” isn’t exactly earth-shattering comedy, such a ravishing little rendezvous lends testament to the fact that, in this area, we can build a stage just about anywhere, and produce quality theatre worth the trip.
