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Comedy
Dress rehearsals for Black Comedy and Gorilla Girl at the Bradley, starting Jan. 20. Left to right: Nina Joly, Ernie White, Rick Skog, David Ring Courtesy photo.
PUTNAM — Now that the holidays are over and we’re facing winter in earnest (hopefully not as bad as last year or what we already suffered in October) it’s time for a good laugh to chase away the cold. The Theatre of Northeastern Connecticut at the Bradley Playhouse on Front Street (Rt. 44) feels it has just the thing to cheer you up when it presents the hilarious “Gorilla Girl” and “Black Comedy” beginning on Jan. 20.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 20, 21, 27, 28, Feb. 3 and 4 and at 2 p.m. Jan. 22, 29 and Feb. 5. (note new starting time for evening shows, 7:30) Tickets are $17 for adults and $14 for seniors and students. Tickets are available with a major credit card online at www.thebradleyplayhouse.org or by calling 860-928-7887. They may also be purchased at Wonderland Books and Victoria Station Café, and at the door.
This presentation is actually two one-act comedies, “Gorilla Girl” which was written by Jean and Walter Kerr, and “Black Comedy,” a farce written by Peter Shaffer.
“Gorilla Girl” takes place on location at a movie shoot. “Black Comedy” makes use of a reversed lighting scheme – most of the play takes place in the dark when a fuse is blown, but the audience can see everything that is going on as the stage lights are on. Before the fuse blows the action actually takes place on a dark stage. A sculptor and his debutante fiancée are planning to entertain her father and a wealthy art collector when the lights go out. Neighbors drop in, a repairman arrives, and they fumble around in the dark with hilarious results. When the sculptor’s ex-mistress shows up unexpectedly, things slide into disaster.
The Bradley production is directed by Kathleen Atwood and Bob Sloat. Most of the performers appear in both plays. Actors include William Corriveau, Sheila Harrington-Hughes, Nina Joly, Paul Neuhardt, David Ring, Debra Leigh Siegel, Rick Skog, Sharon Starr and Ernie White.