Durang/Durang

Consisting of three one act plays by Christopher Durang, this show might be best considered a sketch show instead of theatre in any sense – that is, if the sketches were brilliantly written, acted professionally and twenty minutes long. Either way, the show is good fun, tight and incredibly literate.

In the first section, Mrs. Sorken presents a monologue by the eponymous character, making jokes about Greek etymology and Sartre, despairing at the state of of theatre today. The second piece For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, a parody of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, is character heavy, pitting together a deaf factory worker with a hypochondriac with a penchant for cocktail stirrers. In both examples, its literacy might be considered a stumbling block – a production aimed at an intelligent audience already intimately aware of a whole host of the theatrical canon. Though these references and allusions are constant and add a sense of depth, these moments never truly detract from what is simply an enjoyable affair.

The final part, Nina in the Morning, sheds these pretentions towards downright absurdity, following an eccentric women suffering from an absence from her plastic surgeon. Between scenes, the set is transformed simply, and the enigmatic cast, lead by the superb Janet Prince, saw to it that proceedings were a delight to behold.

Though I doubt this would be to everyone's taste, there is much to be applauded in these series of plays that very much exhibit a professionalism expected from its broadway roots.