by Miryam Gordon - SGN A&E Writer

The Odd Couple
Village Theatre
Issaquah through February 26
Everett March 2-25

A solidly produced classic comedy is now at Village Theatre. The Odd Couple, one of Neil Simon's most produced and adapted plays, is in Village's winter non-musical slot. Directed by veteran Jeff Steitzer and starring Seattle heavyweights Charles Leggett and Chris Ensweiler as Oscar and Felix, respectively, the play demonstrates why it's just as funny today as it was the day it was first staged.

All over this country, there are probably still Friday-night poker games with the guys, and men whose marriages fail. Those are the basics of the plot. Oscar is the guy who has begun getting used to his divorced state, though his home life has become a wreck. Felix is the guy who has gone missing from the poker game and possibly committed suicide due to just having been thrown out by his wife. When Felix has nowhere to go, Oscar invites him to move in with him.

The main comedy has to do with their opposite personalities: Oscar's lack of care about his physical environs and Felix's compulsion to clean everything. Both extremes are funny enough that the audience can see parts of why both men have gotten into the situation with their wives. Either of them is frustrating enough to overwhelm a wife. Once living together, the audience just waits to find out how long they can stand each other!

In this original play, they part living situations by the end. In the television series of many years, they never did, though they came close.

Per Village's usual thoroughness, the production values are excellent, from Martin Christoffel's spacious but a little awkwardly ugly apartment set design to period-appropriate costumes by Christine Tschirgi, sound by Brent Warwick, and lights by Tom Sturge. A great ensemble supports with poker players Matt Wolfe, Eric Polani Jensen, Roger Welch, and John X. Deveney, and the upstairs neighbor sisters Caitlin Frances and Betsy Schwartz.

The play is still set in the '60s, since some of the jokes only work with tethered-to-the-wall phones and the idea of expensive air conditioners. Also, alimony was much more widespread then than it is now. The play allows both men to show love and care for their children, and Oscar's late child support payments are a source of shame rather than a badge of apathy. So, thankfully, the divorce does not mean that either man gets branded with abandoning his family.

It's just a situation comedy, the ultimate in what became the sit-com on television, and Simon is the master. His dialogue is quick and smart, and true to life. Everything makes sense. People's actions come from real, understandable motivations. And it's fun to watch.

If there were a quibble, it's that Ensweiler doesn't have a trace of East Coast accent or style. Every other cast member (except for the British ladies) sounds at least Boston/Philadelphia/New Yorkish. A hint of Upper East Side might do him good.

For more information, go to www.villagetheatre.org or call 425-392-2202.

Discuss your opinions with sgncritic@gmail.com.

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