http://www.heraldnet.com/ae/story.cfm?sectionname=THEATER&file=04040218415317.cfm

The softer side of 'M*A*S*H'

Everett Theatre Society presents the play, which takes a more family-friendly approach to the war comedy.

By Mike Murray
Herald Writer

Long before reality television, there was "M*A*S*H," a critically acclaimed and wildly popular series about Army doctors that put a darkly comic spin on the absurd reality of war -- the Korean War.

The TV show, based on Richard Hooker's novel and following the 1970 movie, lasted nearly four times as long as the war it was about.

Over 11 seasons starting in 1972 it followed the exploits of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital and a cast of characters that included Hot Lips Houlihan, Trapper John, Hawkeye Pierce and Radar O'Reilly.

War is hell, but the folks in "M*A*S*H," who face the carnage of war on a daily basis, use gallows humor and hijinks to deal with the horror.

In 1973, Tim Kelly wrote a stage version of Hooker's original book, a two-act comedy that opens tonight in Everett, a production of the Everett Theatre Society.

While most of us know "M*A*S*H" from the TV series or the movie, there are differences between Kelly's stage play and the other versions, according to Jason Rasmussen, the director.

The play doesn't have the same level of anti-war sentiment, or the campy humor of the TV show, nor is it as dark as the movie or Hooker's novel, Rasmussen said.

Rather, it's more "family friendly," he said, with less emphasis on sex and black comedy, but funny nonetheless and with strongly drawn characters.

"M*A*S*H" is very much a character-driven work, Rasmussen said, and Hawkeye Pierce (Matt Dunlap) and Duke Forrest (Johnny Patchamatla) are the main ones.

These "two excellent surgeons who are drafted into the Korean War against their will don't do things by the book, the book being the military manual," according to Rasmussen. Life in the 4077 is stressful, and to deal with that stress Hawkeye and Duke and the other doctors and nurses prescribe their own brand of comic medicine to get them through the war, or through the day.

Their pranks and pratfalls put them up against Frank Burns (Billy McQuaid), a by-the-books Army captain who Duke and Hawkeye would love to send packing.

Col. Blake (Michael McFadden), is the base commander who puts up with a lot from Hawkeye and Duke, but won't hesitate to "nail their tails to the tent flap."

And Corporal Radar O'Reilly (Aaron Schumacher) "is probably the closet thing to pure comic relief," Rasmussen said.

And the message?

"M*A*S*H" is more about the everyday absurdness of life than it is a thumbs-up, or thumbs-down referendum on war, Rasmussen said.

"I would love for audiences to leave feeling good about the human condition in extreme circumstances. That regardless of what life throws at you, you can take it in stride."

Saturday, March 6, 2004

'No Sex Please, We're British' delivers a jolly good dose of unbridled silliness

By JOE ADCOCK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER THEATER CRITIC

The shelves by my desk sag under the weight of reference books full of information about anything of consequence having to do with theater. They contain not a word about this bizarre phenomenon, "No Sex Please, We're British" -- a farce that ran in London from 1971 to 1986, giving work to hundreds of actors and mirth to thousands of theatergoers.

Perhaps swanky publishers on the order of Oxford and Cambridge, or even down-to-earth Penguin, are too high-minded to notice anything so ridiculous as Anthony Marriott and Alistair Foot's crowd-pleaser. "No Sex" is a noisy string of firecrackers composed of embarrassment, lies to cover embarrassment, more embarrassment, more lies, more embarrassment, more lies ... and then, two hours later, universal loss of dignity.

I have been hearing about "No Sex" for 30 years. This past Thursday night I saw it for the first time. A small company, Next Step Theater Group, is presenting "No Sex" in Theatre 4, a small playhouse on the fourth floor of the Center House in Seattle Center.

Director Ben Sherman and his 10 actors put on a show that is as silly as can be. The action is not, however, as speedy as it could be. With farce, everything has to whiz along with such speed that it is almost impossible to notice that nothing is plausible. Sherman's show is not, as yet at least, up to speed.

Plot? Let's just say that instead of an expected shipment of Swedish glassware Mrs. Frances Hunter receives heaps of pornography. Her husband, a bank manager, is appalled. Her husband's assistant is appalled. He mother-in-law would be appalled, but she never quite catches on. Her husband's boss is appalled by the very thought of pornography.

Throw in a bank auditor and two frisky prostitutes and there you have it.

The Next Step actors do an amazing job (by Seattle standards) of holding on to their British accents. They also have a firm grasp on their one-dimensional characters. Kerry Laureen is chronically flustered as Frances. Frank Lawler, as the husband, goes beyond flustered to seething. Andrew Jenner as the husband's assistant, specializes in panic and shock.

Kay Steik as the mother-in-law and Matthew Dunlap as the boss exude respectability. Ed Okolovitch as the auditor is all perplexity. Jennifer Kay and Leah Papernick as the prostitutes go back and forth between pouty and predatory.

Director Sherman designed the set. It has plenty of doors -- a must for farce: There is always so much to hide.

"No Sex" is harmless foolery. I can understand why it is always playing somewhere, in some regional, community or college theater. And I also can understand why "No Sex" is not mentioned in swanky, or even non-swanky, reference books.