Written by orange• September 15, 2024• 8:35 pm• Laguna beach, Laguna Playhouse, Review, Theater, Uncategorized

Don’t Dress For Dinner @ Laguna Playhouse – Review

PHOTO CREDIT: Jason Niedle/Tethos

Written by Patrick Chavis

Don’t Dress for Dinner is playing now at the Laguna Playhouse, September 4 – 22, 2024.

Director Christoper Williams’s production of Don’t Dress for Dinner keeps it classic, funny, and as wild as ever in this latest rendition of the play at the Laguna Playhouse. Don’t Dress for Dinner is a bedroom farce by Marc Camoletti, adapted by Robin Hawdon. Initially, it was a successful French play named Pyjama Pour Six, which was later adapted by Robin Hawdon for English-speaking audiences. In short, a bedroom farce is a comedic play mostly centered around sex and relationships, and in absurd fashion, things can get rather zany.

Story/Acting:

The basic idea is that Bernard, played by Brian Robert Burns, has a marital affair with the gorgeous model and actress Suzanne, played by Katy Tang. He plans to do the deed while his wife Jacqueline (Kim Morgan Dean) is away. Things get complicated when Jacqueline’s plans change, and now Bernard needs to think fast and lie, lie or confront his infidelity. Will Bernard get away with his shady affair? Was it a terrible idea to bring your mistress to your house in the first place? Will the food be any good at dinner? These questions and more will be answered in Don’t Dress for Dinner!

Timing, timing, and timing are essential with comedy, and let me add one more thing: timing. Don’t Dress for Dinner is not the exception to the rule. The show is fast-paced; the characters are witty and fast-talking, and this cast is so game. There are multiple highlights, but the ones that stand starkly in my mind as the writer is Veronica Dunne, who plays Suzette, comically reciting line for line what was told to her by the character Robert (Brandon J. Pierce) in a previous scene. Dunne nails the delivery and has the audience in tears. She was on fire the entire performance, with wonderful comedic delivery and presence.

Brandon J. Pierce similarly shows a great grasp of the verbosity of the script and the need to do it not only in words but also in actions on stage as he shudders in terror in one second and gallantly moves seductively the next.

It’s a silly play. There’s nothing too deep going on here. But it’s fun, and everyone involved understood the assignment and cranked up the entertainment to 10.

Set/Costume Design:

The set is a beautifully constructed country home by Scenic Designer Marty Burnett — multiple wooden doors for the story’s functionality and aesthetic and a paneled wooden floor. An obscured staircase in the middle of the stage and a white country house backdrop helped create the scene. It is well constructed, if not slightly inauthentic in some aspects. I loved the added detail of the countryside when the characters opened and closed the main door.

Elisa Benzoni’s costume design was a fascinating combination of over-the-top and classic.