The outcome of Dexter's attendance at a school of manners.
Jeffrey Hatcher’s Mrs. Mannerly, directed by Ed Stern, should be a solid hit for Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. It’s a brisk, charming, and startling comedy that is a valentine to a vanished era. It’s specifically the late ‘60s in Steubenville, Ohio, but it seems more like the late ‘50s in terms of what we generally see in reflections of that period. As Twain said
about our Queen City, “I want to be in Cincinnati at the end of the world because it’s always ten years behind the times” and that could probably be said about the Midwest in general.
Jeffrey Hatcher’s Mrs. Mannerly, directed by Ed Stern, should be a solid hit for Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. It’s a brisk, charming, and startling comedy that is a valentine to a vanished era. It’s specifically the late ‘60s in Steubenville, Ohio, but it seems more like the late ‘50s in terms of what we generally see in reflections of that period. As Twain said
about our Queen City, “I want to be in Cincinnati at the end of the world because it’s always ten years behind the times” and that could probably be said about the Midwest in general.
It’s an excellent script with greater nuance and theatricality than the publicity materials promised. Hatcher’s work has been produced by the Playhouse (Scotland Road, Three Viewings, Murderers – a taut, dark comedy from a couple of years ago, A Picasso – a cat and mouse comedy thriller that featured two great performances, and Everything’s Ducky – a wonderful chamber musical that should be in the national repertory and deserves a revival in this region just about more than any show I’ve seen in the past fifteen years). He offers great opportunities to actors to display stylistic range and in this script that goes from sentimental comedy to story theatre farce to explosive surrealism to mystery and a final triumphant yet elegiac moment. Hatcher is akin to an Elizabethan miniaturist presenting an impeccably detailed portrait that initially looks realistic, but is actually allegorical and speaks both of a society and a specific individual.
Dale Hodges and Raymond McAnally at the Steubenville Bar & Grill |
A couple of other grace notes are Brian c. Mehring’s witty set and Shannon Rae Lutz’s clever and ingenious props. There’s also some very subtle sound design by Matt Callahan that evokes a number of different settings almost subconsciously. Kudos to all of them!
Mrs. Mannerly runs through Sunday, October 28.
http://ensemblecincinnati.org/index.php/shows/mrs-mannerly
Mrs. Mannerly runs through Sunday, October 28.
http://ensemblecincinnati.org/index.php/shows/mrs-mannerly
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