Steps Lively

citypaper.net exclusive: In Taking Steps, stairs replace the traditional farce staple of slamming doors.

by Mark Cofta

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Published: Apr 4, 2007

Many of prolific British playwright Alan Ayckbourn's 40-some comedies employ clever gimmicks, but what makes them popular (he's said to be the world's most produced living playwright) is that they feature tangible characters as well as a melancholy tone that encourages us to care for them.

In Taking Steps (1979), revived by Hedgerow Theatre, stairs replace the traditional farce staple of slamming doors — Ayckbourn was writing for theater in the round, where doors are unmanageable. But the play, in director Ken Marini's insightful production, is not about the steps — it's about the people.

They're a motley lot: Mary Lee Bednarek plays Lizzie, who's leaving husband Roland (David Christoffersen). She enlists brother Mark's (Rob Hargraves) help, but he's preoccupied with winning back Kitty (Michelle Guidry), who left him at the altar. Meanwhile, Roland arranges to settle purchase of their house from Bainbridge (Newton Buchanon) with the help of solicitor Watson (Keon Mohajeri).

The comedy begins to percolate when all inhabit the house, but don't know who else is lurking about. Zoran Kovcic's set puts all three floors on one level, with stairs painted faintly on the floor; the actors' many trips up and down define the levels and stairs clearly, without exaggeration. (Especially fun is when characters pass within inches, but we accept that they're on different floors.) Farcical events ensue, fueled by rumors of a ghost, "Scarlet Lucy," as well as an unsigned suicide note, missing sleeping pills and other misunderstandings.

Christoffersen's droll Roland brings drinks for all whether they want them or not, but is even funnier unconscious, whether passed out with scotch glass to his mouth or flopping through some hilarious folding-bed business. He and Mohajeri's bumbling Watson provide the biggest laughs, but all successfully reveal genuine characters, transcend comedic stereotypes and prove surprisingly likable, especially Hargraves' sad-sack dreamer (whose earnest confessions put others to sleep) and Bednarek's desperate, indecisive dancer-turned-housewife. Even Guidry's wordless Kitty, who spends much of the play stuck in the attic, emerges convincingly. Ayckbourn's characters invite empathy, not scorn or ridicule.

Their struggles with words fuel much of the humor: Watson transposes them, Roland misplaces them (is Lizzie's dancing "limbering" or "lumbering"?), Kitty can't force any out and Lizzie can't write them (her illegible farewell letter is a scream). Taking Steps is enjoyable, appropriately, on many levels.

Taking Steps, through April 29, Hedgerow Theatre, 64 Rose Valley Road, Media, 610-565-4211 or www.hedgerowtheatre.org

 

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