THE CURIOUS SAVAGE
By Rita Moran

John Patrick's 1950 comedy "The Curious Savage" at the High Street Arts Center in Moorpark is continuing a community theater season for smart, warm plays from the past.

Ethel Savage, a widow whose late husband has left her a fortune, is the central character. She deserves the money, but her stepchildren feel it should be theirs. Free of wifely duties, Ethel has struck out on her own, dallying in theater as an actress and producer for fun more than success. She dreams of establishing a foundation that will further the whims and fancies of other equally straitlaced people who want to dream of what could be, or what might have been. Naturally, the children don't see it that way and take steps to thwart Ethel's plan by shipping her to the Cloisters, a genteel home for the disturbed.

Helene Benjamin is full of spunk and vigor as the indomitable Ethel, who schemes to keep the bonds that will fund her foundation while hoodwinking her stepchildren. The actors portraying the stepchildren are Titus, a U.S. senator (David Burr); Samuel, a judge (William David Wright); and Lily Belle, a none-too-pure woman of the world (Ghislaine Sopher-Phillips).

Burr is suitably self-righteous and haughty, and Wright fittingly wimpy. But Sopher-Phillips runs with her role as the sultry multi-divorcée, squeezing every drop out of the comic role.

The 11-member cast includes a finely tuned camaraderie of crazies who attach themselves to Ethel, and all rock out in their roles. Particularly successful is Erin Hollander as the traumatically insecure Fairy May, a psychological state the actress defines with lightning-quick physicality that mirrors the young woman's mercurial nature. Lois Lorback is a hoot as Mrs. Paddy, who speaks only to dash off lists of the things she hates and wanders around the room with a scowl on her face. She also hates electric lights, and the byplay of characters who try to keep her from dashing the Cloisters' living room into the dark is a continuing and well-played joke. Larry Shilkoff is the statistics expert Hannibal, who plays the violin (sort of); George Kralemann is effective as the pale war veteran who hasn't been able to return to reality; and Sharon Gibson is a placid woman who clings to her fantasy child.

A few of the supposedly sane people ultimately help Ethel get her way. Leslie Channon is Nurse Wilhelmina, sympathetic to Ethel and understanding of the other patients, while carefully concealing her own secret. Chris Raiskup is the doctor running the asylum, sometimes officious but ultimately sympathetic.

Playwright Patrick has created a play stuffed with humor and wisdom, and director Paul Millet has encouraged the cast to deliver the lines in a matter-of-fact conversational tone that enhances the impact.

On opening night, some of the lines were swallowed up in a general low level of projection, and the pace needed just a bit more foot-on-the-pedal, but those are problems that have likely already been taken care of now that the important matter of zeroing in on the characters and their comic potential is in place.

Patrick's gentle comedy takes place against a strikingly handsome set designed by Will Shupe. Character-appropriate costumes are designed by Christine Cover-Ferro. John J. Grant's lighting design is especially effective in the antics of the light-flicking Mrs. Paddy and an artful final dream scene in which the inmates have triumphed over their problems.

WHAT:
"THE CURIOUS SAVAGE" by
John Patrick

WHEN:
Runs through June 15, 2008
Friday & Saturday evenings at
8pm, Sunday afternoons at 2pm

COST:
$15 for Adults
$12 for Seniors and Students
$8 for Children 12 and under
Group discounts available

WHERE:
High Street Arts Center, 45 East
High Street, Moorpark
Box Office (805) 529-8700