Two River Theatre has a revival of this Joe Orton farce.
By: Stuart Duncan
Playwright Joe Orton is most certainly not everyone’s cuppa tea. His private life, as indeed his comedies, have been described as "outrageous to the point of macabre." He also has been hailed as Britain’s heir apparent to Oscar Wilde and shows such as Loot, Entertaining Mr. Sloane and What the Butler Saw attest to his prowess with the pen. The latter is being staged at Red Bank’s Two River Theater, the finale of an ambitious season.
What the Butler Saw, Orton’s final and many feel his finest work, is a farce that pokes fierce fun at the world of psychoanalysis, but manages to skewer sex, authority and family relationships with equal venom. It involves a sex-obsessed psychiatrist who is confounded by the arrival of his nymphomaniac wife, a lunatic supervisor, a handsome bellhop and a clueless policeman all in the midst of his attempts to seduce a prospective secretary. It displays Orton’s talent at its subversive best.
When it was staged first in London, it was described by many as "filthy" and "without any redeeming social values." Calls were addressed to Lord Chamberlain to take it off the stage. When it traveled to America, it was sanitized mid-Atlantic.
The Two River staging falls somewhere in between. Like the accents of the six-person company, it is neither completely tame nor completely outrageous. Almost everyone in the cast loses some or most of his or her clothing, and many find transgender apparel to don. There is even a bit of on-stage sexual activity, but nothing to startle the avid cable TV audience.
Under Brendon Fox’s spirited direction, a veteran cast romps through the material. Matthew Boston (seen in Julius Caesar at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey) plays our besieged Dr. Prentice with mounting desperation. Bob Sorenson steals much of the show as the state medical czar, determined to commit everybody he finds to some asylum or another with obvious glee. Amanda Rowan has a delicious time as the prospective secretary, occasionally seen with her clothes on.
John Keating (seen at McCarter in both The Tempest and The School for Scandal) has great fun as the police sergeant who gets caught up in the mayhem, as does Allison Briner as Dr. Prentice’s voracious wife. And Simon Kendall (seen as young Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at McCarter) plays the hotel bellhop with carnal knowledge and a few bits of clothing.
Scenic designer Jeremy Doucette has given us a spacious doctor’s examining room with plenty of doors to slam and a curtained area to hide the nudity when necessary. Costume designer Deborah Caney has an easy task. Who knows what playwright Orton might have achieved if he had lived past age 34, and who knows how many audiences might have been offended.
What The Butler Saw continues at Two River Theatre, 21 Bridge Ave., Red Bank, through May 28. Performances: Thurs.-Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 3, 8 p.m.; Sun. 3 p.m.; May 24, 1 p.m. Tickets cost $25-$45, $15 students. For information, call (732) 345-1400. On the Web: www.trtc.org

