Cash on Delivery at HCT

Wednesday night I took a little break from the Sundance Film Festival to see Cash on Delivery, a lighthearted slap-stick comedy, at Hale Centre Theatre. Eric Swann (Bryan Dayley) began defrauding the office of Social Services by accepting payments for nonexistent lodgers at his house two years ago after losing his job at the Electric Company. Social Services, becoming suspicious of so many payments being sent to the same residence, sends Mr. Jenkins (Mark Fotheringham) to investigate. Swann enlists the help of his actual lodger Norman McDonald (Greg Larsen) and his uncle George (George Anderson) in order to keep up the ruse with not only Jenkins but his wife (Michelle Linn Hall), Norman's fiancee (Shannon Ricks), a grief counselor (Margie Johnson), an enthusiastic undertaker (Ben Parkes), a marriage counselor (David Marsden), and Jenkins' superior Ms. Cowper (Alison W. Henriksen). Chaos ensues as each of them are forced to tell one outrageous lie after another and impersonate fictional characters, including one who is supposed to be deaf and two who are supposed to be dead, until the whole thing unravels with hilarious consequences. At one point, I couldn't remember who was impersonating whom! I laughed and laughed at all of their antics! Every member of the cast, especially Dayley and Larsen, has impeccable comedic timing and the British accents are entirely believable.  The physical comedy is an absolute hoot, especially when one of the characters who is pretending to be dead is stuffed into a window seat and I always love a comedy that features lots of slamming doors. My only complaint is that I couldn't see some of the action because a large couch blocked my view from the left side of the stage (perhaps the scenic designers are so used to creating sets for the theater-in-the-round that they need some practice for a more traditional stage).  It was such a fun evening and I highly recommend this show but, as always, tickets are going fast (go here).

Note: This was quite the departure from all of the dark and edgy films I've been seeing at Sundance!