Lorne Kennedy as Norrison declares, “I look forward to shutting off my brain,” but we then notice that most brains don’t function as fast as his Norrison speaks in The President. He takes enunciation and cadences at illegal speeds, even tosses in knowing looks about sex after marriage at the audience, but before we even begin to laugh he’s already done three more pages of the play. Kennedy is one special reason why I’ve seen this fifty minute show several times, and there are many like yours truly, fans of screwball comedies of the thirties, who have made return visits.
Next, add Julie Martell’s Lydia, a busty bimbo with pouting lips who swings her hips when she says “body and soul” and as a result we think “body”. Even her commas are suggestive. Meanwhile, Norrison wants her “soybean king” father as an investor. Lydia’s “dahling” is Jeff Meadows’ doltish Tony, a member of the Communist party who seems a leftover worker from an Eisenstein film. Tony is not the quickest lad on the block and only initially resists his makeover from proletariat to surface capitalist. He is told, “Stop meddling in your own affairs,” but eventually he embraces the capitalist lingo and attitude. Tony perhaps will learn that money doesn’t solve everything –for example, Norrison’s ballerina mistress, Begonia, dumps him which causes much heartache inside that tailor-made suit of his.
You have to pay close attention to this rapid fire farce, because lines like “Tristan and Isolde, I’ve seen it thirty-two times…it’s so depressing” fly by like trees seen from a speeding train window. The cast are smoothly wired into the frantic pace, all with idiosyncrasies succinctly placed into the frenzy for us to enjoy on the run. The cast include many Shaw Festival stalwarts like Peter Millard as efficient and obedient and compliant Bartleby. Many of the rest do double or triple roles and each one make s a major comic point in their few seconds.
