Word: ruiz
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...Jerry Ruiz '00 applied for the Mainstage this spring with a show that is unlikely to be mistaken for another...
...circus act it is, though a highly enjoyable one. Ayckbourn turns the troubles of married life into a high speed adventure, and Ruiz takes him up on every challenge. Aristotle might not have been pleased, but so what? The three unities can be left for classics majors to ponder...
Perhaps a Paganini Caprice is the wrong analogy, though. Paganini's work was all style, full of flashy ornamentations but with little in the way of an enchanting melody to anchor his flights of dexterity. What makes Ruiz's production so successful is that for all its high-speed antics, it keeps its feet planted firmly on the ground. The sets of Glenn Reisch '99 manage to keep Ayckbourn's experiments with time and place under control. Reisch essentially designs two sets, one for each home. Remarkably, they are different enough so that the audience never loses its bearings...
...course, the real strength of Ruiz's production lies in his cast. Jonah St. Newmoth leads the comic charge as the dim-witted but lovable Frank Foster, flanked at all times by Duda as the detestably arrogant Bob and Hanson as the hopelessly pathetic but well-meaning William...
...Ruiz's men would border on the wrong side of caricature, though, were it not for their more grounded female counterparts. Matthay, as Fiona, is the most outrageous of this trio, though suitably so. She breathes cold-blooded temptress through every line. Kate Agresta '02 as Teresa Phillips and Rabbit as Mary Detweiller provide the backbone of the ensemble. Stressed out and overwhelmed, respectively, they provide glimpses from outside the crazy world that Ayckbourn creates, giving a somewhat more reasoned (or at least reasonable) response to the circus act that their life has become...