Hapgood

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Directed by Keith Dixon, Hapgood written by playwright Tom Stoppard goes for deceit, confusion, enveloped in laughs. With a talented cast, Dixon succeeds at Miner’s Alley Playhouse. He gets it right. When Hapgood is played for laughs, which is easy to do with the well-written funny lines, it loses its legitimacy and purpose, and the funny lines wander off on a journey of their own.

Secrecy, codes, and double talk turn the business of espionage upside down and sideways with Mrs. Hapgood’s agency. There’s a double (or could it be triple?) agent running loose out of its cage amongst the four strategically placed doors in upstage center.

Wearing her straightforward business face, Paige Lynn Larson gives an outstanding performance as Mrs. Hapgood and her kooky off-the-wall sister.

In two acts, the play covers 12 scenes with smooth fast-paced orchestrated precision. As an actor, Wade P. Wood shows steady growth as Mrs. Hapgood’s right-hand man, Blair. The technique of having Paul Blair act as stage manager to change scenes and lighting with the snap of his fingers is handled brilliantly.

As a once-upon-a-time Russian scientist, Bob C. Kramer takes the role of Joseph Kerner for a high rolling ride. Equating the laws of physics to the art of espionage, one realizes some of the funniest lines come hidden in his alliances of human behavior.

This is not a performance one can doze through. It commands attention and thought to connect the prodding dots. Clues are hidden in the deliberately confusing dialogue and it is up to the audience to keep track of who is who and who is where and why. That’s the fun of this production. Boredom certainly wasn’t granted admittance through the front door.

With clever lighting designed by Karalyn Pytel, and eerie sound designed by El Armstrong, Stoppard’s experiment to explore free will in a deterministic Newtonian world works on this stage.

For the most part, the cast of characters are listed in the program by their last names. In the play they are frequently called by their first. It would be immensely helpful to the wide-awake audience if the program included both names. During Intermission this was a major topic of conversation attempting to figure out who exactly was who.

Brian Dinkle as young Joe Hapgood is a little stiff, but is one young actor to keep an eye on. Time and experience can only fine-tune his talent.

Christian Mast as Ridley does double duty with profound double speak speeches as he presents an alibi for Mrs. Hapgood, and she likewise for him.

Hapgood and Ridley end up on paid leave, are present for the continued search and development, but not allowed to speak. It is wondrous how much can be said without words. Larson and Mast almost steal the scene with their non-expressions.

This production gets a high rating with its chemistry-laden cast who admit to having a great deal of fun. It shows.