The life of a critic can be a strange one, indeed. Especially for the womanizing Birdboot (Brian James Ward) and insecure Moon (Marta Johnson). Occasionally, art can imitate life or merge to create a multilayered “Clue”-like thriller to create the dramatic oddity known as “The Real Inspector Hound.” Directed by John Conlon, this work starts out as a play within a play that soon parallels the lives of those paid to tear it apart, bringing them further and further into the melée.
We start out watching Birdboot and Moon sitting in their box seats, anxiously awaiting the start of the play. Moon is a longwinded pretentious reviewer who only showed up because Higgs, her boss, was unable to make it. Prone to Shakespearean-style soliloquies, she rambles on, oblivious to Birdboot’s monologues about the latest starlet he’s discovered (intimately and critically), all the while proclaiming his love for his wife. The mission of this duo is to review “The Murder at Muldoon Manor,” a farcical play deliberately imbued with all the Gothic clichés that haunt the mystery genre.
“The Murder at Muldoon Manor” eventually opens with the maid, Mrs. Drudge (Laura Freitas), describing the death of her master, Lord Muldoon, whose somber portrait hangs in the center of the backdrop. Set in the remote Muldoon Manor, overlooking treacherous and impassable cliffs with a fugitive running free and a storm going full force, “The Murder at Muldoon Manor” has all the ingredients for a kitschy, cheesy spoof. Most mysteries err in overly elaborate plots and remote settings that make it easy enough to tidy up the loose ends when the curtain comes down. “Manor” doesn’t deny that; it revels in it.
Written by Tom Stoppard, the dialogue of “Inspector Hound” is witty in that it delights in the ridiculous, inserting clever little vignettes here and there, like Moon’s line, “It is not enough to wax at another’s wane.” There are many puns and double entendres in the play within the play and the interplay between Birdboot and Moon. Supposedly, Birdboot has been sleeping with Felicity Cunningham (Kelly DiCarli) until he discovers his new infatuation Lady Cynthia Muldoon (Elissa Jordan). Yet, in “Muldoon Manor,” both are in the process of carrying on or ending a torrid love affair with Simon Gascoyne (Jorge Fuentes). Adding to the confusion is a dead body that is so obviously ignored by the “Manor” cast when they sit down to play bridge that the audience can be in tears even in complete silence.
Even with a relatively small cast of eight players, “Inspector Hound” is still no less elaborate than productions that run with a larger set. The maze lies within the artists’ minds, forcing them to take on multiple personalities in this dizzyingly designed plot. Inspector Hound (Rocky Graziano) skulks throughout the manor played by both Birdboot and Moon. The ending culminates with Magnus Muldoon doing a triple-layered striptease.
Opening night, October 16, was notable in that it was poorly attended, unfortunate considering how amusing the play is. Though it intermittently strains in some areas to carry off the parody, the comic timing was sharp, necessary for intricately worked plots such as these. The bounds of credibility are pushed when the critics step out of the box and into the world of “Muldoon Manor” when we see the actors forcing themselves to recreate the same feelings of contempt held for Gascoyne, this time with Birdboot. Overall, it’s the kind of play you can see again without getting bored thanks to the solid performance of the cast but even more to the mind-bending weirdness of the plot. Plan to be there for 90 minutes worth of hilarity.
On another note, John Conlon, Director of the UMass Boston Theatre Arts division of the Performing Arts Department, will be taking early retirement at the end of the Fall 2003 semester. “The Real Inspector Hound” will be running next weekend on October 23, 24, and 25 at 8pm in McCormack Theatre. Tickets are available at the McCormack Theatre Box Office or by calling (617) 287-5645 with general admission at $7 and $5 for students and seniors.
