The Straight Man

Death in any circumstance is always a tragedy. When the death concerned is that of the one truly entertaining character a play has to offer, it is a double blow.

The Straight Man, a comedy from the Guy Incognito group, starts promisingly enough. Simon is a twentysomething struggling to think of a way to break the news to his devout Jewish parents that he intends to abandon his faith and marry his non-Jewish fiancée. For reasons best known to himself, he decides to tell them that he is gay, in the hope their rage will be such that they disown him. Needless to say, things don't go according to plan.

Just as the audience is getting comfortable, the wizened old mother, who appeared to be the star of the show, keels over. Much like the play itself, she fails to make a recovery. From this moment in, the seemingly carefully crafted script goes out the window, and things quickly become rather silly.

What was shaping up to be a mildly entertaining sitcom instead becomes a series of ever more outlandish character revelations, each apparently trying to out do the last. Yet far from being spontaneous, you can see the next gag coming a mile off. There are a few laugh out moments, but not enough to justify the startling changes of pace which occur so frequently.

Enthusiastically performed, The Straight Man definitely has its moments. The problem being most of these occur in the first twenty minutes.