The piece, an NCRT commission, is a world premiere. The plot itself is an adaptation of Ferenc Molnár’s classic 1924 farce, “Play at the Castle,” which makes fun of characters attempting to navigate romance, misunderstandings and comical situations.
This plot gets around. A previous adaptation of the Molnár (“The Play’s the Thing”) was written by P.G. Wodehouse in 1926. Tom Stoppard wrote another adaptation called “Rough Crossing” (featuring actors on a ship trying to get to a job in Europe) in 1991.
In the NCRT version (script by Paul Slade Smith), an actor named Oliver Adams (Taubert Nadalini) is smitten by – and pursuing – a lovely actress named Margot Bell (wonderfully played by Elinor Gunn).
He goes to find her in a fancy castle with too many doors (six, if I recall correctly). And hears too much noise that sounds like heavy breathing and encounters of the human kind. Could it be that Margot is with (gasp!) someone else?
You can probably guess what sort of thing will happen.
The only thing that saves this silly script is a great cast that plays each character with the exaggeration required to make it seem funny.
Barbara E. Robertson plays Charlotte Sanders, an adult actress who is there with her actor husband Arthur Sanders (James Newcomb). They add what the few adult comments that are made.
Thomas Edward Daugherty plays Victor Pratt, the reigning king of romance, who also gets mixed up with these crazies.
But by far my favorite character is Olga Molnar (Erin Noel Grennan), who plays the maidservant who bustles in and out in black, bringing coffee and cake in the morning, frequently muttering “Theater people!”
There’s no reason to pay a lot of attention to the plot; just sit back, relax and watch these (expletive deleted) theater people at work.
The details
“The Angel Next Door” plays through October 1, 2023 at North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive in Solana Beach.
Shows Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m.
Tickets: (858) 481-1055 or tickets.northcoastrep.org
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