Blindfaith's 'Butterscotch' not so sweet
"Lord Butterscotch and the Curse of the Darkwater Phantom" is rather less than the sum of its parts.
The British-style comedy (in its world premiere at Blindfaith Theatre) reflects the efforts of three Chicago playwrights -- Lisa Dillman ("Half of Plenty"), Rebecca Gilman ("The Glory of Living," "Spinning Into Butter") and Brett Neveu ("4 Murders," "Eric LaRue") and two directors -- Nicolas Minas and Noah Simon. Despite all their talents, the quintet failed to come up with one good show.
According to the press release, Dillman, Gilman and Neveu wrote the play "on a whim, round robin-style." To their credit, no one voice dominates, which makes for a fairly cohesive comedy. That said, there's nothing especially distinctive about it. "Butterscotch" delivers some laughs, but it's nothing audiences haven't seen before. Frankly, they've seen better. The clumsy comedy pales in comparison to David Ives' adaptation of "A Flea in Her Ear", which Chicago Shakespeare Theatre produced last year, or Joe Orton's droll "What the Butler Saw" running through Sunday at Court Theatre.
Formulaic and repetitious, "Lord Butterscotch" relies on stereotypical characters and limp jokes about the male anatomy. And while Minas and Simon create a nice stage picture to accompany a character recap at the top of the second act, the review is hardly necessary. A 10-minute intermission won't make us forget Lord B. and the oddballs who populate his country estate, not when Dillman, Gilman and Neveu paint them so broadly. Put in confectionery terms, "Butterscotch" is to "Butler" what a piece of, well, butterscotch is to a bar of milk chocolate: In lieu of something tastier, it'll do.
Faithful to farce's conventions, the story involves mistaken identity and romantic entanglements; jealousy and infidelity; schemes, revelations and a madcap chase. It unfolds to Mikhail Fiksel's original score (played by Whitney W. Friedrich, Christopher Gagnon, Chuck Patella, Shaun Whitley and Hilary Holbrook). The action takes place on a whimsical but baffling tea set (teapot, cup and sugar bowl included) by designer Grant Sabin, which serves as the ancestral home of a grinning aristocratic dandy Lord Butterscotch (Kelly Cooper).
Hoping to exorcise the phantom that for years has haunted his estate, Lord B. invites friends and family to a seance. Guests include Butterscotch's disgruntled brother-in-law Lord Ambrose (Sean Sinitski); Anne (Lisa May Simpson), Ambrose's unremarkable spinster daughter; Pippy Wallingstorn (Katie McLean in full-on man-eater mode), a lusty young widow eager to get her hands on Butterscotch and his fortune; Butterscotch's boyhood chum, the hapless Tuck (Brent Frost, who literally takes a beating); dotty Aunt Aggie (J. Preddie Predmore) and a tipsy Vicar (nice work by Will Schutz, who also plays the Host, a put-upon, poor man's Alistair Cooke, who introduces the play).
Also on hand are the servants: Mangan -- studly gamekeeper and champion of the working class, played by Chris Hainsworth; buxom Helen -- the jiggling maid played by Jennifer Santanello who teeters in high heels, and Cook, a crone with a secret, gleefully played by Pedra O'Rourke.
The cast has talent and they're certainly committed. On opening night, several of them soldiered on after slipping on a wet spot caused by a delightful but superfluous special effect used during an unnecessary bathtub scene. Too bad DG&N didn't serve up a sweeter treat, something the actors and the audience could have really savored.
"Lord Butterscotch and the Curse of the Darkwater Phantom"
Rating: 2 of 4 stars
Location: Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph St., Chicago
Times: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays through Jan. 6
Running time: About one hour, 40 minutes including intermission
Tickets: $20, $18
Box office: (312) 742-8497 or www.dcatheater.org
Rating: Suitable for adults, contains sexual situations