 Mon, May 12, 2008 12:03 PM
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2008-03-28  Opinion | HATCHER HURD
Georgia Ensemble Theatre: 'Triple Espresso' keeps the laughs coming
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| | by Hatcher Hurd |
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April 04, 2008 | 09:50 AM
Bob Farley, artistic director for Roswell's Georgia Ensemble Theatre, told me he has been trying to acquire the rights to produce "Triple Espresso," GET's spring comedy that opened last week, for the last eight years.
Now I know why.
I know why because I had one of the best theater experiences I've had in years when I went to see "Espresso." It is funny, funny, funny. It is not morally uplifting, but it is funny. It is not intellectually stimulating, but it is funny. It is not a treatise on the ultimate redemption of man, but it is … well you get the picture.
So I decided I would sit down and write something about this hilarious little play I went to see. I noticed when Bob told me how excited he was about getting the play, he was so enthusiastic. But he really did not say much about "Triple Espresso" itself.
Instead, he talked about how much he laughed. Now that I have seen the play, too, I understand why describing the play is somewhat difficult. But print is a poor two-dimensional medium when used to explain something like "Espresso."
Instead of telling people what the play is about, you sort of meander off on tangents. And just as a line that only intersects a circle at one point, so do descriptions of what the play is about touch but one point on a 360-degree plane.
Understand? I thought not. Well, so much for using geometry to explain what "Espresso" is about. Did I hear someone say, "Try English"? OK, I'll try that. Try to think of the best Marx Brothers movie you ever saw, and then think how you would explain it to someone who had never seen the Marx Brothers before. Sort of pointless, isn't it?
If I could write as funny as the actors act, I wouldn't be writing this, now would I? But for the straight-line purists among you, I will try.
Imagine if you will, there is a lounge singer/pianist (Dane Stauffer, who bears a striking similarity to Jim Carrey) who had just enough talent, just enough show biz savvy to hang on 25 years as the sole entertainment at a coffee bistro. That's 25 years of singing "Muskrat Love" and "I Write the Songs." Imagine what Dante would have done with that.
He is joined by his two former partners (Duane Daniel and Patrick Albanese who are also living on the fringes of show business for a reunion of sorts. (Think of a weekend with your ex and her mother.) Yet as they reminisce about the bad old days, we find they were actually a great comedy team. Too bad they were trying to be a singing trio and didn't know it.
That's about as far as I can go in telling you what this is all about. It really defies any kind of coherent description. But I can tell you I really liked Cable Zaire and the Mike Douglas show – arguably the worst television debut ever.
But I have to admit my favorite part was the monkey. The monkey was really cool.
The three actors, who really are talented by the way, give this manic rollercoaster its magic. Stauffer, Daniel and Albanese create a bond among one another that makes you believe that, yes, maybe these guys are masochistic enough to meet again after 25 years and relive all those painful moments from their time as an act together.
But if you go see "Espresso" – and you really should – be prepared to do more than sit idly and hold your sides from laughing so hard. There is some audience participation along the way. And unlike most attempts at this sort of thing, it just adds to the insanity.
I think that may be it. These three guys create an insane world, and suddenly you are being drawn into it to become a part of all this madness. And you laugh. Very much. A lot. And then you laugh some more.
And as you leave the theater, you are smiling. It's a sardonic kind of smile. And you think to yourself, now why did I laugh that much? Was it really that funny?
And then you think about the monkey.
- www.gwinnettherald.com
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