By Shirley Lorraine –
Ready for a laugh-filled evening of live theater? The current offering at Conejo Players Theater in Thousand Oaks will fill the bill and then some. Hotbed Hotel by Michael Parker has it all – outrageous characters all played to their campy hilt, multiple costume changes, running gags, banging doors, barely controlled chaos, and intentional goofs. Lots of fun, providing a much-needed cascade of laughs in these challenging times.
Set in a one-star hotel (are there any no-star hotels? muses one character) in the Florida Keyes, in the 1980’s (remember those?), the owners want desperately to impress a potential buyer by engaging staff and others to impersonate paying guests so that the hotel appears full. Of course, the buyer arrives early, putting everyone on instant alert. Needless to say, what can go wrong will, and does, to the full delight of the audience. The action gets more and more frantic as new surprises emerge.
Ably directed in true farce fashion by Kimberly Demmary, a strong cast barrels through this cleverly written piece of nostalgic fluff. It takes a few minutes to acclimate to the style and pace then continues to build throughout so that by the conclusion the audience is fully invested in the sheer craziness of the action and quirks of the characters.
From the opening moments with the appearance of Hopkins (Larry Swartz), a would-be handyman, you know you are in for a good time. Swartz takes full advantage of his kindly, bumbling old-guy persona throughout.
Cassie Kelso-Bucey and Drew Orlando play Terry and Brian Cody, the current owners of the hotel. Their ambition to sell the hotel is the catalyst for some fun shenanigans as well as misguided impressions, keeping the action at high pitch.
Jeff Ham is thoroughly solid as the only true hotel guest, Major Ponsenby, spouting profound non-sequiturs and reveling in his character. He also appears as Abdul El Hajj, further confounding the action.
Maureen, a young, fairly clueless hotel employee, is played with spirit by Catie Allo Sayeg. How she keeps a straight face with all the goings-on is admirable in itself. Of all the characters, she seems to put in the most mileage with all her frantic costume changes.
The potential buyer, Sam Lewis, is embodied by Don McGreevy, who is accompanied by his “wife” Ashley (Briana Bauer). Is anyone surprised when the real wife (Judy Diderrich) appears? Diderrich garners many laughs as she defends her dignity against men invading her room seeking Hayley (Christine Cummings), a local vamp of some renown played with abandon.
The action is rapid and well choreographed for maximum laughs. Go. Enjoy.
https://conejo.com/things-to-do/conejo-players-theatre/
