FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Bite Me doesn't
First in the Bite and Borrow series a comic hit for Lunchbox
by Lori MontgomeryBite Me / Borrow Me
by Clem Martini, Lunchbox Theatre
Jan 13 - Feb 7The first of Clem Martini's bookend plays for Lunchbox Theatre, Bite Me, is perhaps the best thing to hit the little stage in Bow Valley Square in a couple of seasons. It's not too complicated, not too obscure and very funny - the perfect way to spend a lunch hour.
The setting is a Canadian movie set, where beleaguered director Gerry Moyer (Joe-Norman Shaw) is trying to finish his first "medium-budget" film. Everything is on track - if a little behind schedule - when the set is graced with a visit by the new executive producer, the controlling and arrogant Russel Bennet (David LeReaney). Bennet shows up with a "protégée" whom he insists on casting in the movie and a set of rewrites that features "more blood and more nudity." Gerry has his hands full making the movie while keeping the producer and his girlfriend happy.
The characters are consistently funny and real - but then, we expect at least that much from local playwright Clem Martini. The real credit goes to Shaw and LeReaney, for performances that take the play out of the realm of the standard and make it the kind of thing that you remember after you leave the theatre. Shaw is an engaging good guy, transforming from a cowering underdog to a fairly assertive champion, and LeReaney is perfectly odious. Together they are unquestionably the center of attention, although their climactic confrontation at the end of the play could use a little more confrontation (Gerry is a little too smooth and Bennet is a little too accepting).
The two plays run on alternate days until Feb. 7, and the second features a similar cast. In Borrow Me, Russel Bennet and his wife invite Bennet's protegee to dinner, where murder and mayhem ensue. See review in next week's FFWD.
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