It’s opening night for “Flaming Idiots” at the Habersham Community Theater, a contemporary family-friendly farce complete with the perfect blend of comedic timing, slapstick humor and underpants.
Directed by Chris Bryant, the comedy follows two entrepreneurs, Phil (David McNeill White) and Carl (Daniel Purcell), who open a restaurant after a financially unfulfilling post office career. While they might like the idea of raking in the dough, they lack the business skills and smarts to run a restaurant and soon find themselves struggling to pay the bills.
A nearby competitor restaurant has long-held popularity due to its mobster history with a murder occurring right inside— and like any sane business owners, Phil and Carl wonder if murder could boost their business, too. As the two work through the ins and outs of business and hiring hitmen, hilarity ensues.
This is HCT’s first production of the new year and the first full-on comedy in a while. The most recent production was A Christmas Carol in December. Before that, the theater featured a large ensemble cast in the drama-comedy Big Fish.
This production is different in that it has a limited cast – ten, including female understudy Jubilee Chastain – and a single set; it takes place entirely in the restaurant kitchen and requires five doors for slamming.
The audience will meet over-the-top characters, like Eugene (Jonathan Zeke Smith), a struggling actor who’s afraid to perform, Officer Task (Matthew Teutsch), an aspiring investigator with no observational skills, and Jayne Fryman (Katie Thompson), a reporter wearing too many hats and not enough pants, who will leave them laughing until the curtains close.
This is Bryant’s directorial debut at HCT, and she’s pleased with the overall product. She says her cast and crew have worked together amid production chaos to put the show together, and put their own silly spins on the show’s characters.
White says that one of the reasons he loves this show, other than it being down-right fun, is it’s one his children can see him perform in.
“The big thing for me with this show is that we didn’t have to change anything in the script,” White told Now Habersham. “It’s already clean and family-friendly. I love that. . . my kids came to see the show last night, they’re 8 and 5 [years old].”
Bryant encourages the community to see the comedy for themselves.
“It’s a really funny show,” she says. “They [the community] need to come watch it. It’s not going to be something everybody’s familiar with, but I think if they come see it, they’ll be pleased that they did.”
Flaming Idiots runs Feb. 17-19 and Feb. 24-26 at 7:30 p.m., with two matinee shows on Feb. 20 and Feb. 27 at 2:00 p.m. To purchase tickets, click here.
The Habersham Community Theater is located at 1370 North Washington Street in downtown Clarkesville.
