By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
So, what’s a bride to do?
Savannah is stuck in isolation just two weeks before her nuptials, away from her intended, away from her mom, and dad – OK, that last one may be a plus.
The days are topsy turvy. She drinks some wine and before she knows it it’s 3 a.m. And as her grandma used to say: “Nothing Good Happens After Midnight.” Sip, sip, snip, snip … but let’s stop there before this turns into a spoiler.
And, what’s a community theater troupe to do? It’s the middle of September when the curtain should be rising on the first production of the season.
Well, the Black Swamp Players are dealing with the situation better than the heroine of sketch writer Laurie Allen’s short comedy “Nothing Good Happens After Midnight.”
Unable to stage a play because of pandemic restrictions – performing arts venues are restricted to 15 percent capacity – the troupe has gone virtual. Last Wednesday (Sept. 16) the Players joined forces with the Humpday Revue to present “Nothing Good Happens After Midnight” as part of the local variety show. The comedy will be offered again this Wednesday, Sept. 23 at about 9 p.m.
The two shows have different casts. Last week’s featured Allie Levine as the frazzled and distraught Savannah with Karen Noble as her mother, Joyce, Patrick Davis as her father, George, and Heath Diehl as her fiancé Billy. Diehl returns this week with Leah Truman as Savannah, Deb Weiser as Joyce, and Bob Welly as George. Weiser is the director for the production.
Written in April, the script captures the oddities of life during the pandemic when our interactions with people are often screen-bound.
The characters, though, are familiar from comedies. There’s the bride at wit’s end with a mother struggling futilely to steady her. The fiancé wants to help but doesn’t have a clue as to how. And the father wants to help and is just as clueless, but that doesn’t stop him from charging ahead and making matters worse.
All this plays out on a Zoom call, each character contained in their own box. The cast does its best, though, to break out of the confines of the short script to give us more rounded characters within the square frames.
The play’s end is inconclusive, which is not satisfying, but unfortunately that’s all to true to life now.
