University of Virginia Library

Dinner Theater: Stage Clarified

By David Greer

Sex, Bohemia, and life in the
suburbs are perhaps the biggest
clich?s in contemporary comedy
and the Charlottesville Dinner
Theater, with its unbelievable
talent for such things, has managed
to find a play containing all three.
The play, Joseph Fields' and Peter
De Vries' "Tunnel of Love,"
opened Friday and will run,
barring atomic attack, through
April 28th.

In its favor, it must be said
that instead of the Dinner
Theater's usual two characters, the
audience now has six (count them,
six) characters to look at. The setting
of this delight is the combination
art colony and suburb
known as Westport, Connecticut.
The plot revolves around the problems
of the Pooles (John Merensky
and Paulette Sinclair), a couple
that has an intense yearning for
children but seems unable to produce
any in the usual way. They
decide on adoption.

Double Scotches

The adoption agency's investigator
(Diane de Lorian) appears on
the scene to gather information
about the prospective parents and
stays to drink double scotches and
give Poole his first extra-curricular
fling. The result of this theatrically
expedient union is a child.
Predictably, the Pooles adopt the
child and the remainder of the
play becomes a complex attempt
by Mr. Poole to keep Mrs.
Poole from discovering the child's
paternity. A neighboring couple
(Gordon Gray and Constance
Clarke) drop-in on the Pooles
occasionally to say amusing things
and a second investigator for the
adoption agency (Elizabeth Brown)
eventually shows up to make an
even six.

The players are all competent,
if not always as smooth as they
might be, and act their parts with
energy and a certain optimism the
play doesn't always deserve. Their
acting background is certainly impressive
and varied (Miss de
Lorian, for example, has appeared
not only in the national company
of "The Odd Couple" but also
in Jello, Arrow Shirt, and Dream
Whip commercials).

Haphazard Framework

The play itself is the usual
collection of one line quips held
together on a haphazard framework.
It's funny enough, to be
sure, but the lines spoken by the
characters are those of vaudeville
comedians rather than believable
people, the humor more a collection
of the best of Bob Hope than
real wit.

The current production aside, I
am constantly mystified by the
Dinner Theater's strangely uneven
approach to the business of theater.
We are led to believe that we can
expect an evening of good food
and urbane entertainment. The
food is most certainly good (if
anything, better than ever) but
after dinner the audience is confronted
by some refugee cruise
director who insists everyone must
clap with him for a while to get
in practice for the play. The whole
thing is reminiscent of some high
school drama club production held
in a school gymnasium. This surprising
performance is followed by
a show that, for all its faults,
heavily depends on the audience
having a certain amount of sophistication.
It would seem desirable
for the Dinner Theater to make
some decision concerning its
image, gymnasium or supper club,
and stick to it.

Student rates are still in effect
at the Dinner Theater and all
things considered, "Tunnel of
Love" is probably worth seeing.
Charlottesville restaurants being
what they are and other professional
theaters as distant as they
are, the Dinner Theater has little
competition.