The Ecstasy of “The Agony & The Agony”
Anna Holloway Published: July 7th, 2016
Carpenter Square Theatre’s production of “The Agony & the Agony” by Nicky Silver is a very funny show. Directed by Ronn Burton, the play is almost a satire of a French farce, which is already a double entendre. With unexpected entrances and utterances creating funny and improbable situations and interactions, the show exposes the selfish and petty side of human relationships. Giving a broadly comic and, at times, sweetly touching performance as Richard, local OKC favorite Jon Haque led the cast. Richard is a gay playwright who has just broken through his writer’s block when his wife, Lela, a straight actress played with slinky opportunism by J. Christine Lanning, comes home preparing to seduce a part out of a Broadway producer—for this to work, she needs Richard out of the way.
In the process, Lela’s current boy toy Chet arrives; Dylan Cox is a narcissistic and naïve Chet who believes he can get $5000 from Lela for a ‘personal’ reason. The personal reason turns out to be an about-to-deliver Anita, Chet’s girlfriend, played with intelligent sass by Tiffany Tuggle; Anita and Chet are trying to con Lela into paying for their childbirth expenses.
Throughout of all this, Richard’s id, manifesting as Nathan Leopold, Jr, appears and drops pungent observations. Ian Clinton played Leopold on opening weekend, and he colored the shade of the infamous murderer with passionate self-respect. Clinton’s Leopold served as an interesting analyst; he comments on everything but only Richard can interact with him. Their interplay is sharply funny and occasionally moving. The part will be played by local improv actor Alex Prather for the remainder of the run. Rounding out the cast, Mark Ingham played Broadway producer Anton Knight, a man of vision and appetites and some predictable secrets. Ingham delivered the character with verve and vulnerability.
Ben Hall’s unit set serves well as both the apartment living room and Richard’s bedroom. Jay Schardt’s carefully spotted lighting was also key to helping the audience identify the spaces. The costumes, set dressing, and sound designs also all fit together well.
The script is smart and funny, and it was very well served by Burton’s direction and excellent cast. Silver’s jokes are layered so deviously that they can be overplayed without too much fear of bogging down the action; this is never an issue with the Carpenter cast. Timing, touch, tumbles are all lightly handled so that the funny never overpowers the human and the jokes don’t intrude on the arc of story.
“The Agony & the Agony” at Carpenter Square offers a very entertaining evening, well worth the time and money. Due to issues in the building, the opening was moved back and so an additional weekend has been added. The show runs July 2-23. Shows are at 7:30 on Thursdays July 7 and 14; 8:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 2:00 on Sunday July 10. For tickets, call 405-232-6500.