Charley's Aunt

Standing From Left: Matt Peterson: (Charley Wykeham) Danielle Hising: (Amy Spettigue) Ryan Rowe : (Jack Chesney) Rich Rice: (Stephen Spettigue) Stan Finley: (Brassett) Judy Ball: (Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez) Doug Simons: (Colonel Sir Francis Chesney)

Seated: Roechelle Landstrom: (Ela Delahay) Tim Shute: (Lord Fancourt Babberley) Karen Wold: (Kitty Verdun)

High-spirited play on at Driftwood

By Valerie Jester

Daily World correspondent

The current production on the Driftwood stage is "Charley's Aunt," an old-fashioned Victorian farce complete with mistaken identities, long-lost loves and a man in drag.

Written in 1892, by Brandon Thomas, this oft-performed play has been a staple of college and repertory theater for many years.

Both Geri Reynolds, the director, and Scott Reynvaan, her assistant, are making their Driftwood directorial debuts. This is an ambitious first play to have chosen, with the complicated stage action and split-second timing necessary for a successful farce.

The plot revolves around two high-spirited Oxford men madly in love with two beauties - one the daughter (played by Danielle Hising) and one the ward (played by Karen Wold) of greedy Stephen Spettigue (Rich Rice).

Jack Chesney (Ryan Rowe) and Charley Wykeham (Matt Peterson) have one last day to propose to Kitty Verdun and Amy Spettigue before the old man whisks the girls away from possible marriage proposals (and the loss of his dearly held income as Kitty's guardian) to remote Scotland.

The desperate students hatch a plan to invite the girls to lunch, ostensibly to meet Charley's rich, widowed aunt from Brazil. Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez (Judy Ball), having never met her nephew before, is due to arrive at any moment for a visit.

Jack's servant (Stan Finley) is dispatched to hunt up food and drink and his father (played by Doug Simons) is invited to entertain Donna Lucia so the gents can woo their sweethearts.

When the aunt and her friend (played by Roechelle Landstrom) fail to arrive in time, Jack and Charley enlist fellow student Fancourt Babberley (played by Tim Shute) to substitute. Fortunately, Babbs has recently taken on the role of an old woman in a campus play.

Donning his costume and the role of the Brazilian aunt, the luncheon party, and the farce, begin. What follows are a string of surprises and many funny gags.

The play runs through May 27 at the Driftwood Theater in Aberdeen. Shows begin at 8:15 p.m. this Friday and Saturday. The show continues on Fridays and Saturday, May 25 and 26, and there will be a 2:15 matinee on Sunday, May 27.

Tickets are $8 and are available at City Drug and Top Food & Drug in Aberdeen, Harbor Drug in Hoquiam, Valu-Drug in Montesano and Our Place in Ocean Shores.

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	Pictures by Jones Photo Co.