28 — Friday, December 12, 1997 ~ North Shore News TWO comedies this week: one seasonal, one not; one Jocal, one not. Both have some pretty solid points in their favor, but children in your party will probably be the deciding factor. Certainly the parents who chose the opening of the Arts Club production of The Game of Love and Chance for their young daughter were doing her no favors — or the ; Them : nearby audience. PS. Martin Milléschip; Designer Ken MacDonald’s bold costumes and director Eee Morris Panych’s playful sense of the physical provide a lor of candy for the ey It must certainly have seemed to this young girl that something funny was going on as she would periodically ask her mother for an explanation. The plot of Pierre Marivaux’ 1730 comedy hinges on two sets of role reversals. A lot of complications: a lot of whispered explanations. Unfortunately, [ would bet thar all her mother's whisperings didn’t help. Comedy is funny in the moment, not in explanation. “You had to be there” is a basic truth. Maybe she would have had more fun at North Vancouver Community Players’ production of Babes in the Wood. It’s a quick romp through Sherwood Forest in fairly typical English pantomime style, which is to say that plot takes a back seat to owtragcous characterization and pie-in-the-face slapstick or very bad jokes. It’s a style that can be an acquired taste for non-Brits, but the opportunities for audience participation can also engross a theatreful of children in no time flat. And last Friday evening saw a packed Presentation House ringing to the boos and hisses of a thoroughly involved young audience. There are over a dozen children in this cast, which is great for club involvement but requires audience indulgence for age, voice and speed. However, the cast also boasts that bilious blagard Vince Callaghan as the villainous Baron Hardup who more than makes up for pedestrian scene shifts and a script that has either been chopped to pieces for small attention spans or just wasn’t very funny to begin with. No stranger to boos, Callaghan actively sought his critics’ disapproval last Friday and once the voung critics realized it was OK to mouth off at Hardup the best repartee of the evening came from the house. Wearing a dress and wig as a disguise didn’t fool this voung audience. “She has a beard!” yelled one. “And a moustache,” yelled another. Callaghan’s coy rejoinder: “1 a have a hormone problem.” Realizing anyone could join in, someone else shouted Phot David Co “He’s wearing pants.” Not to be outdone, moustache-boy added “He’s wearing DAVID Marr (left) is one cool dude in the Arts Club production of The Game Michael Jackson’s pants.” Callaghan just grabbed his crotch and began moonwalking. | Love and Chance. Andy Thompsen gets hotter under his servant’s too-tight collal Mo Woodhead does. almost as well in the over-the-top stakes (but fortunately her . dress held firm), Colin Lewis is a great Scot, and where would a geod panto be with- out a bunch of Morris dancers waving hankies in the ais. Babes in the Wood is cheap, fun for the youngsters, and all net proceeds go to the Harvest Project. There are five performances lef this weekend. Meanwhile, back on Granville Island ... Panych and MacDonald have cleverly updated Marivaux’ play to a Paris-meets-Hollywaod-of-the- 1950s set and to a more current sensi- evening, but all the participants in this Sé bilicy with some clever additional lines. opportunity to talk directly to the audience. The women came off better than the men opening night with Leslie Jones and Nicole Marivaux’ wit (“I wouldn’t trust him. He knows too many words.”) and a comic self Robert finding comedy and balance in their reversed roles of maid and mistress. 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