Tackling the Klu Klux Klan, marriage, manipulation of religion, and emotional insecurity is ambitious. Trying to make the audience laugh at the same time is an even greater undertaking. Though Mask & Bauble’s The Foreigner overextends itself with unwieldy themes and uneven presentation, an earnest cast and several skillful comedic performances ultimately redeem the play. 
The production opens with two Englishmen traveling through rural Georgia. Froggy (J. C. Calcerano, COL ’09) tries to cheer up his timid friend, Charlie (Joe Brown, MSB ’11), with the promise of three days at a relaxing lodge. To assuage his friend’s personal insecurities and anxieity about talking to strangers, Froggy introduces Charlie as a foreigner who cannot speak English. Absurdist comedy ensues as Charlie interacts with a variety of southerners who think he cannot understand them.
Written by Larry Shue, the play combines societal and personal drama and weaves together themes of prejudice and injustice with individual quests for self acceptance. However, the production exploits issues of discrimination simply for the purpose of plot advancement, failing to communicate any real understanding or complex approach to such matters. Though several scenes have powerful potential to unnerve the audience—particularly in the middle of a comedy—they came off as caricatured and awkward. In contrast, the cast shines when its characters are busy making the audience laugh and struggling to find themselves at the same time, letting the story unfold naturally rather than forcing things.
At the outset, the play feels disjointed as it introduces the cast of seven, who at times even slip in and out of accents.
Nonetheless, as Charlie’s predicament becomes increasingly complicated, he says to Froggy, “I think I’m acquiring a personality.” So does the play. The cast visibly coalesces in the second half as the pace quickens. Charlie and his new friends engage in madcap shenanigans and wild physical comedy as the reticent traveler tries to get the best of obnoxious town proprietor Owen Musser (Dan Hrebenak, COL ’11) and the villainous Reverend (Jason Cheberenchick, COL ’09).
The Foreigner suffers, though, from its indifference to place, lacking a mooring onto which the audience may grasp. The historical moment (the early 1980s) and Southern setting are given merely ceremonious nods with an old phone and generic music in between sets, likely ignored amidst the personal dramas. Further, the lackluster set also fails to create any real sense of the local, community lodge.
After suspending disbelief, the earnestness of the acting matches the tone of the play itself; pluckiness and honesty are the keys to success here, despite the setbacks. The actors engage well with each other and with the audience in delivering Shue’s witty dialogue. In particular, newcomer Andrew Street (COL ’12) is riotously funny as the slow but winning Ellard Smith, and J. C. Calcerano is consistently convincing as the boisterous Froggy.
Though the play at times feels foreign to itself, unable to find the right balance between the comedic quest for self-discovery and dramatic social realities, it nonetheless captivates the audience with its fundamentally human stories about overcoming insecurity. Overall, the merriment of the cast transcends the play’s pitfalls and guarantees an enjoyable two hours.
The Foreigner is showing January 29th-30th and February 5th-7th at 8 p.m. and February 8th at 4 p.m. in Poulton Hall Stage III.
Yay Andrew!