TOM VALENTINE, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES-NEWS
CUMBERLAND — A country fishing lodge in Georgia is the setting for the latest offering of The New Embassy Theatre and their production of “The Foreigner.” The Larry Shue farce is slated for performances this weekend and continuing through Nov. 22.
Shue died in a plane crash in 1985 while the show was running off-Broadway.
It won two Obie Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards and has since returned to New York with Matthew Broderick in the lead. “The Foreigner” has become a favorite (along with Shue’s production of “The Nerd”) of many theater groups.
The story revolves around boring Charlie (Mark Ashby), a painfully shy, down-in-the-dumps Englishman who checks into the down-at-the-heels lodge to stew about his failing marriage. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone, so he pretends not to speak English. But he listens a lot. While not talking, he learns of the financial woes of the landlady (Linda Julien), the romantic travails of a pretty young niece (Marta Fiscus) and the evil schemes hatched by a conniving humbug preacher (Richard Wydro) and her slow witted brother Ellard (Tom Shanklin). Added to this mix is a racist and prejudiced Owen Musser (Tom Vogtman). Before long, Charlie has heard everyone’s secrets, including a possibly dangerous one.
From there, hilarity ensues. Over the course of three days, Charlie hears these decidedly personal conversations between guests who have no idea he understands them. Veteran actor and first time director Shanklin (who also appeared in “The Nerd” by Shue) has a fun time with the truly funny script and a stable of enjoyable actors.
As Charlie, whose philandering wife is serially unfaithful, Ashby becomes the center of a true laugh fest. He connects on many levels to the oddballs with whom he spends his initially silent vacation. His poise and relaxed manner makes him in control of the stage — even when sitting quietly at a table.
His buddy Froggy (who really is a foreigner), cast by Dan Cope, plays the perfect foil to Ashby’s antics. Cope is as animated as Ashby is reserved, boring and shy.
Julien portrays Betty Meeks as sweetly goofy. She is excited to have this “foreigner” at her lodge and attempts to communicate with this non speaker of English by speaking louder and slower. The good natured Reverend is presented as a master villain by Wydro, who wants the lodge as headquarters for the Ku Klux Klan. Fiscus is sweet and trusting as the naïve Catherine, unaware of her fiancée’s dastardly plot. However, she gets to demonstrate her fiery and edgy side as well. Catherine’s insecure and maybe mentally defective brother Ellard is given the full characterization by Shanklin.
Finally, Vogtman gives us a mean-spirited, ignorant, volatile and extremely prejudiced Musser, who is against anyone who doesn’t fit his ideal of “Christian, white America.”He is a delight as he insults Charlie ... unaware that his victim understands every word.
If a fast-paced comedy with carrots, candles, exotic spoons, Klansmen and sauerkraut in the cellar sounds interesting, then “The Foreigner” is just your “cup of tea” (thank you!).
Friday and Saturday performances of “The Foreigner” are slated at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:30. Tickets are available by calling the New Embassy box office at (301) 722-4629.
