Theater Review: You’ll go nuts over Utah Shakespeare Festival’s ‘Charley’s Aunt’
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| 2015 Utah Shakespeare Festival production of ‘Charley’s Aunt’ (photo: Karl Hugh) |
Written by Bruce Bennett
Few plays justify a nearly three-hour runtime and two intermissions, but time seems to breeze by in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s fantastically frenetic and funny “Charley’s Aunt.” Playwright Brandon Thomas’ farce is all the more impressive, given that the play is now 123 years old and relies almost totally on one main gag: a man impersonating a woman. But in the hands of director David Ivers–an incredibly nuanced performer himself–and a supremely gifted cast, the show’s potential for hackneyed silliness is a masterclass of comic timing, cleverly choreographed pandemonium, and detailed, purposeful execution. In short, it is utterly hilarious.
Inspired performances abound, but certainly Michael Doherty’s marvelously manic Babbs, who masquerades as the titular character, is the key. You can’t take your eyes off him: it’s panic poetry at its most absurdly sublime level. College boys Jack and Charley, played by Brendan Marshall-Rashid and Tasso Feldman, respectively, hope to spend time with their sweethearts and plan a luncheon, but everything goes awry when Charley’s real aunt, played by Christine Jugueta, is delayed and other uninvited guests complicate matters. Sets and costumes are typical of the festival’s high standards, and an unexpected audience sing-along in the final act cements a delightful coda to a show with no visible flaws. No doubt, you’ll go nuts for this “Aunt.”
Grade: A
