October 19, 2020
BY MARILYN JOZWIK
Peggy and Frank (Antoinette Stikil and David Jirik) share a quiet moment in a scene from Village Playhouse’s “Weekend Comedy.”
Community Theater is back in the area. Much is different, but much is the same.
Village Playhouse (formerly Wauwatosa Village Playhouse) is back on stage at their home at Inspiration Studios in West Allis. The choice to open this most unusual 2020-21 season is the comedy about relationships, “Weekend Comedy,” directed by Scott Sorensen.
While the theater welcomes patrons to view the show in person with social distancing and other safety precautions in place during the pandemic, there is also a virtual option, which we opted for. We watched the Friday, Oct. 16, show.
Tim Keitzman did a wonderful job recording the show with multiple angles to enhance viewing and crisp sound, well capturing the fine performances and captivating story.
“Weekend Comedy,” by Sam Bobrick and Jeanne Bobrick, has a Neil Simon vibe with its two couples, one around age 60 and one in their 20s, verbally dueling throughout the show. The older couple, Frank and Peggy (David Jirik and Antoinette Stikil), have rented a cabin for a long holiday weekend. Shortly after they get there, another couple, Jill and Tony (Emily Condon and Kerruan Sheppard), arrive. Apparently, the rental agent double booked.
The two couples agree to share the cabin for the weekend, but it doesn’t take long to see that their ideas on marriage and relationships are oceans apart. The dialogue bounces back and forth like a high-speed ping-pong match and the four performers keep up well.
Jill and Tony (Emily Condon and Kerruan Sheppard) share a cabin with an older couple for a long weekend in Village Playhouse’s “Weekend Comedy.”
The first scene sets up the tone for Peggy and Frank, who haven’t taken a vacation in years. Peggy is hoping for a quiet, romantic weekend with no distractions from phones, TVs or newspapers. Frank is tightly wound, however, and restless as Peggy tells him, “For once in your life, enjoy yourself.”
Most of the comedy comes in the first act, with some zingers nicely delivered. When Frank whines, “What the hell is there to do around here?” Peggy, exasperated by his complaints, answers, “You could watch me strangle you!” Jirik and Stikil do well with the comedy, perfecting the comfortable tenor of a couple married for 33 years.
The dynamics change early on when Jill and Tony barge in on Frank and Peggy’s amorous moment. Oddly, neither couple seems at all that surprised with the intrusion. I would expect several moments of shock and indignation, which never came.
The tension in the show falls mainly with Frank and Tony. Frank has settled into the routine of marriage, while Tony and Jill have been living together for three years. The younger couple spend money freely, travel often and are open to new adventures. Frank resents Tony’s working in his father’s business. “I didn’t get everything handed to me on a silver platter,” Frank says, and he brags about the stability of his marriage, insisting he’s found inner peace, contentment, satisfaction. “You’re looking at a happy man,” says Frank.
Everything about Tony rubs Frank the wrong way: he’s brash, opinionated and condescending. Their tete-a-tetes are some of the best moments in the show. Tony and Frank’s differences come to a crescendo at the end of Act 1 when Tony tells Frank that he’s “a man without dreams” and that his life is “pathetic.” Tony tells Frank, “It’s obvious to me your life is s___ .” Jirik and Sheppard attack such scenes with a sense of urgency that is palpable.
Frank (David Jirik) lectures Jill and Peggy (Emily Condon and Kerruan Sheppard) in a scene from Village Playhouse’s “Weekend Comedy.”
Frank goes ballistic and attacks Tony — literally. In the meantime, Peggy views her marriage with new eyes as she listens to the young couple. “Something is missing, Frank,” Peggy laments. “The more I’m around them, I feel it even more.” Stikil convinces the audience to feel her malaise.
Jirik’s Frank puts an exclamation point at the end of Act I as the young couple bring him to a startling realization. “They’re pushing us out … they’re making us feel obsolete.”
Tony and Frank continue their sparring in Act II, as Frank calls Tony “a spoiled, cocky kid” with Tony counterpunching, “You’re boring and you’re bored.” Peggy tries to break the tension, announcing she’s going to “start with a beer and then work my way up to arsenic.”
But when Frank says, “I don’t want anybody else, I want Peggy,” Jill is touched. It’s what Jill hopes for – a stable marriage that passes the test of time. Jill has been listening and observing and it brings her to a startling realization that Tony didn’t see coming. Peggy, too, sees her marriage in a new way, which brings the older couple to a new place.
This is a fine ensemble cast, which handled a load of dialogue and the fast pace well. Though there were a couple awkward pauses when lines might have been forgotten. Jirik is wonderful to watch as the cantankerous Frank, never wavering from his character’s crusty old man demeanor. Stikil gets out of the way of Jirik’s rampaging bull and elicits sympathy with her character’s longings and spousal support. As Tony, Sheppard captures the young man’s arrogance and outspokenness, but softens at the right moments. Condon’s Jill is engaging and, like Peggy, lets the men duke it out, while she soaks up lessons from the older, wiser couple.
IF YOU GO
Who: Village Playhouse
What: “Weekend Comedy”
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23 and 24; 2 p.m. Oct. 25. The Friday performance will be filmed and be available to be viewed online.
Where: Inspiration Studios, 1500 S. 73rd St., West Allis
Information: https://villageplayhouse.org/weekend-comedy
