'Foreigner' funny, insightful

"THE FOREIGNER," PIONEER THEATRE COMPANY, University of Utah, through Dec. 22 (581-6961 or www.pioneertheatre.org), running time: 2 1/2 hours (one intermission)

From the get-go, all that severely timid Charlie Baker wants is a quiet, peaceful few days in his own forest retreat.

And that's what his traveling buddy, Sgt. "Froggy" LeSueur, promises he'll get when the two British friends pull into Betty Meeks' Fishing Lodge Resort in rural Georgia, where Froggy is temporarily assigned to teach U.S. troops his detonation skills.

Quiet and peaceful, however, are not in the cards.

Guest artist Jim Wisniewski is perfectly cast as Charlie, a nice guy who is terrified of being engaged in conversation with strangers. Froggy — who quickly cooks up a story that Charlie is a foreigner who neither speaks nor understands English — is well-played by Max Robinson.

Directed by Charles Morey (assisted by Anne Stewart Mark), the rest of the cast is more than up to the task of portraying innkeeper Meeks (Darrie Lawrence), three of her other lodgers and a crooked, menacing inspector who has devious plans for condemning the lodge.

Lauren Elise McCord plays Catherine Simms, a guest who discovers she's pregnant by boyfriend David Marshall Lee (Christopher Kelly), a pastor with less-than-angelic plans.

Michael Daniel Anderson delivers an energetic, flawless performance as Catherine's younger brother, Ellard, a lad who allegedly has mental problems but who steps up to the plate when he needs to.

Jeremy Holm plays Owen Musser, a county assessor with a frightening dark side.

As Larry Shue's insightfully humorous play progresses, lives are changed and Charlie discovers that maybe he really does have a personality.

The scenes with Ellard teaching Charlie new words are hilarious (you may not have realized that lamp and fork have two syllables — "la-ump" and "far-erk." George Maxwell's scenery is, as usual, breathtaking (this is no rustic little cabin in the woods). Brenda van Der Wiel's costuming, Peter L. Willardson's lighting and Joe Payne's sound designs are equally effective.

"The Foreigner" is an evening (or afternoon) of insightful humor.

Sensitivity rating: Some staged violence. Youngsters may be frightened by the Ku Klux Klan militants terrorizing Meeks and the lodge's guests.

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