You Never Can Tell

By George Bernard Shaw

Directed by Erik Salovaara

Produced by Joy Behrens and Sissy Frank

At the Lowell House JCR

Through April 19th

FUNNY, IT SEEMS like yesterday when audiences viewed another comedy of manners in the Lowell JCR, last spring's production of Noel Coward's Hayfever. The Lowell House Drama society must like this sort of theater. Like Hayfever, You Never Can Tell has it's share of outrageous children, a stubborn matriarch, and romantic entanglements. But Shaw, of course, must add a touch of class conflict, feminism and a little political commentary.

You Never Can Tell can be thought of as a nightmare version of the Brady Bunch: what happens when a famous author and her three children encounter the husband she left 18 years earlier. Throw in the one of the daughter's complicated courtship by a penniless dentist, and you'll have most of the plot.

Before going into a post mortem, people should know that You Never Can Tell is generally okay as a house JCR show. You can take your friends and enjoy the show without grimacing too many times and chuckling far more often. With that off my chest, we can begin the dissection.

Simply put, You Never Can Tell is INXS in 2 little space. For the INXS, the primary offenders are Dolly (Gerri Robinson) and Phil (Frank A. Lawler), the rambunctious 18-plus-year-old family children. While their antics are admittedly funny, they climb over furniture and exaggerate mannerisms beyond slapstick into the realms of sheer disbelief. Unfortunately, they are not alone. All of the characters seem to be climbing over furniture at sometime or another.

And who can blame them? Director Salovaara made the strategic error of trying to produce this play in the round. He ends up, however, with too little space for his platforms, forcing the actors to scoot around furniture at the edges or break the illusion by stepping off and on the stage. And all for nought. A large couch blocks out a fourth of the audience during the play's second half. Badly focused lights blind another fourth. Choose your seats carefully for this one.

Of course, there are balancing sins. Some of the more conservative characters seem awfully stiff beyond their years, such as the former radical-gone-establishment lawyer McComas (Jamie Mclnnes) and, to a lesser extent, the authoress' husband Mr. Crampton (Richard Listerud). But theirs are mostly minor errors in otherwise fairly solid performances, allowing them to play the straight man to the ridiculousness around them.

More satisfactory elements of understated humor are provided by the characters of a lower-class waiter (Constantine Costes) and his lawyer son Bohun (Jon King). Assisted by good scriptwriting, they don't force humor, letting it come more naturally. And while she acts a bit juvenile at first, the author, Mrs. Clandon reaches dramatic equilibrium very quickly, playing her role with a convincing, concerned sternness. The romance between Valentine (Chris Duffy) and Gloria (Katherina Urso) is pat, and although Valentine is just one step beyond in some scenes, they manage to pull off a believable enough love affair in the short time alotted to their relationship.

Most of the play's sins, in the characters or on the set, must be laid at the feet of the director, as usual. The storyline in You Never Can Tell will amuse you, but be prepared to endure some hefty conceptual gaffes.