'Real Inspector Hound' takes stage in Glen Ellyn
British playwright Tom Stoppard is one of the most creative and amazing playwrights of our time; his plays are complex, thought-provoking, creative and just plain “out there.”
My favorite of all his works is “The Real Inspector Hound,” a spoof on Agatha Christie's whodunit concept — “No one will leave the room” type thing — which has so many convoluted twists and turns as it goes, you may not figure it all out until you get home. But trust me, you'll be 100 percent entertained.
The show focuses on the traditional British-style murder mystery and then turns it on its head.
Most people know the classic “whodunit” style, but Stoppard, in his unique way, twists and turns that concept even further into an evening of surprise, intensity and, most importantly, hilarious hilarity.
The show focuses on two theater critics, Birdboot, a womanizing scribe of some note, and the less-influential Moon, who comments pompously and cleverly regarding the “play within a play” we are all watching.
The action they and we are watching concerns Lady Muldoon, whose mansion serves as the setting for the play. She is joined by Felicity Cunningham, Simon Gascoyne, Major Magnus Maldoon and Mrs. Drudge, “the help.” Jason Taylor of Roselle depicts Inspector Hound.
But is he “the real inspector hound?” This is a question both critics wrestle with when they unintentionally enter the play … and can't get out.
The show opens with a gunshot — one of several in the show — and revealed is a dead body whose identity is a mystery, until the end.
Playing the dead body is Ron Alfano of Itasca, Rich Scott of Bloomingdale, and, in a surprise twist — Paul Kolasinski of Addison, who portrayed the original dead body when Village Theatre Guild first performed the play in 1980. I played the critic Moon in that production and our Stage Manager Sue Keenan played Lady Cynthia Muldoon. Revisiting “Hound” has reminded me how timeless the play is.
Stoppard served as a theater critic in England and has captured the nuances of that profession in an amusing and extravagant way. Having been a theater critic myself, I can relate to the concept, but anyone can get the gist of Stoppard's wit — we've included some information on the play in our playbill, a concept that Stoppard himself endorses.
In a 2008 American Theatre Wing interview, Stoppard remarked that “playbills in America do not often serve the play. Instead they are jammed with advertisements. In London, theater patrons pay extra for playbills and, therefore, they contain information designed to further the audiences' enjoyment of a particular production.”
The insert for our playbill is but one attempt on our part to mimic the British.
British writer Kenneth Tynan once wrote of Stoppard, “Art is a game within a game — the larger game being life itself, an absurd mosaic of incidents and accidents.”
A Slate Magazine article in 2006 commented, “Smart fun is Stoppard's stock in trade. Watching his plays, you feel smart. What could be more fun?”
Yes, indeed. Come and enjoy the fun at the Village Theatre Guild's production of “The Real Inspector Hound.”
• Bill Burghardt directs the Village Theatre Guild's production of “The Real Inspector Hound.”
The Real Inspector Hound
<b>Where</b>: Glen Ellyn Village Theatre Guild, 3S020 Park Blvd.
<b>When</b>: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Feb. 5; 3 p.m. Sundays, Jan. 23, 30 and Saturday, Feb. 5.
<b>Tickets</b>: $18
<b>Info</b>: (630) 469-8230