Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Lansing High School explores the nature of theater in two comedies that turn drama inside out tonight and tomorrow night.  'The Actor's Nightmare' is Christopher Durang's deranged fantasy in which an actor -- or is he -- finds himself in a play that he hasn't rehearsed for.  Tom Stoppard's The 'Real Inspector Hound' twists the lives of two critics with the fantasies they review.  Are they reviewing the drama or are they in it?

The stylish production melds the two on a set framed by opera boxes where audience members are painted in place for 'Nightmare,' replaced by the critics in 'Hound.'   Stylish costumes help define the characters played by Maxwell T. MacKensie, Jes, Uhroveik, Kate Schuttenberg, Susan Lin, Benjamin Veaner, Aaron Eddy, Allison Veaner, Brendon Hammond, Gregory Wasenko, Bethany Sharpless, Alyssa Wasenko, and Everett Brown.  The play is directed by Karen Veaner.


Like a real nightmare things keep changing for the poor George Spelvin -- A theater in-joke.  George Spelvin is typically listed in theater programs when the actual actor playing a role does not want credit, or the actor's identity is not known in advance. -- who can't keep up with whether he is in 'Private Lives,' 'Hamlet,' or 'Waiting For Godot.'  Is it a dream or is it real?  Transformed into the role of Thomas Moore in the beheading scene from 'A Man From All Seasons' the frantic Spelvin must decide whether or not to play the role or to wake up.  Can he wake up?  Is it really a dream?  Nothing could be more nightmarish.

'Hound' starts out sane enough as two theater reviewers, Moon and Birdboot, attend a murder mystery.  But the lines between the reviewer's actual lives and the drama quickly fade as the philandering Birdboot reveals his dalliances with some of the actresses.  As Birdboot transforms into the play Moon is outraged, but even he is not imune to the melding of the two worlds.


Stoppard is known for his crisp witty dialog and unexpected plot twists, and this one-act doesn't disappoint.  The characters blatantly ignoring a dead body, blithely moving furniture over it, and stepping over it adds to the mirth.  Who is the real Inspector Hound?  There is only one way to find out.

The comedies run tonight and tomorrow (October 17 and 18) at the Lansing Middle School Auditorium at 7pm.

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