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December 31, 2008
Though he hasn’t written many works for the stage, “Don’t Drink the Water” was the first Woody Allen play to appear on Broadway in 1966, gaining many positive reviews for the young comic.
Thibodaux Playhouse (314 St. Mary St. in downtown Thibodaux, at the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center) is staging Allen’s antic Cold-War comedy on Friday, Jan. 23; Saturday, Jan. 24; and Thursday, Jan. 29, through Saturday, Jan. 31, at 7:30 p.m. A 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Feb. 1, is also being offered.
“Water” is probably best known from the 1969 movie starring Jackie Gleason that was made from the play. Allen didn’t have much to do with the movie other than providing the material it was based on, and disliked it. He ended up directing his own made-for-television version in the 1990s.
Like Allen, director Heather Keller is breaking ground with the local production.
Keller was a co-director on two previous Thibodaux Playhouse offerings, “Bless Me, Father” and “Lucky Stiff,” and she has acted in several of the theater’s productions. However, “Water” is her first outing as a solo director.
In the play, set in the 1960s, a provincial New Jersey family decides to vacation in an unnamed East European country.
“It’s one of the running gags,” Keller said. “Walter, the father (played by Blake Petit, Keller’s brother), always wants to vacation in Atlantic City. His brother-in-law convinces him to broaden his horizons.”
The comic possibilities are ripe. While snapping photos, Walter inadvertently takes a picture of a missile storage facility. The family, wife Marion (Katie Dehart) and daughter Susan (Clara Arceneaux), has to take refuge in the country’s U.S. embassy after an undercover agent (Paul Cook) pursues them.
Since the ambassador (Tom Simons) has left the country to do some fundraising, the embassy is being run by his bumbling son, Axel (Randy Mayeux). Also on hand is a staff member (Nick Guillot).
The place is stocked with loonies. Father Drobney (Wesley Annis) has been a refugee at the embassy for six years and takes up doing magic tricks to pass the time.
The prickly cook, called Chef (Ken Poon), has his eyes on Drobney’s magic rabbit.
And a tippling sultan and his spouse, also present in the embassy, spice up the proceedings, especially after the communist agent crashes an embassy party.
“The police stake out the embassy the whole play,” Keller said.
Walter and Marion escape by disguising themselves as the royal couple. That leaves Axel and Susan with the opportunity to get to know one another even better, and wedding bells are heard.
Keller said she’s not updating the play in any way to make it reflect the U.S.’s friendlier relations with the old Eastern Bloc.
“We’re keeping it (faithful),” she said. “If you try to modernize it, it wouldn’t have the same feel.”
Keller also said the actors are nailing down their foreign accents and are “catching all the jokes.”
“That makes it even more fun,” she said.
Call the Thibodaux Playhouse at (985) 446-1896 for reservations.
Randy Mayeux (Axel Magee) and Blake Petit (Walter Hollander) perform a scene from Thibodaux Playhouse’s production of “Don’t Drink The Water.” The antic Woody Allen Cold-War comedy opens Jan. 23 at the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center.
