“Beyond Therapy” may be the funniest play I have ever seen. At the least, it’s in competition with the production of Neil Simon’s “The Dinner Party” I saw this summer on Broadway with Jon Lovitz.
“Beyond Therapy,” written by Christopher Durang and directed by Addiann Hinds, started last weekend at The Riverwalk Theatre, 228 Museum Drive in downtown Lansing and continues Thursday through Sunday.
The play starts with a blind date at The Restaurant in response to a personal ad in a newspaper. Right away, it turns out Bruce, played by Louis Balestra, is bisexual. The cast is eccentric, but Bruce is so strange that his date, Prudence, played by Jennifer Johns-McCloy, seems normal.
After the first act, I was rocking with laughter. From there it only got better, with a slam-bang ending that was unimaginably zany.
Quite a bit of the humor comes from awkward moments and situations nobody is really prepared to deal with.
Some of the folks in the audience actually didn’t seem to be prepared with what the play had to offer. This is a very adult comedy, and some of the lines appeared to shock a few patrons.
“Therapy” is a play about relationships and sex is often used as a source of humor. Prudence’s therapist, Dr. Stuart Framingham (Kevin Knights), has a strange pre-occupation with premature ejaculation.
This play is perfect for college students, especially those who aren’t big fans of theater. As I found out, it’s well-suited for men and women alike.
During the play, I couldn’t help thinking the name “Beyond Therapy” could not have been better suited to the content.
As I watched the characters interact with each other, I realized these people had very little chance of ever conducting what could be considered by most as a normal life. But then again, who would want to?
The wackiest character was Dr. Charlotte Wallace, played by Gini Larson. This character is indescribably strange. She talks a mile a minute and can’t control her own emotions, or her memory. In short, she’s a basketcase. It’s funny that she thinks she can advise other people about mental health.
The cast members of “Beyond Therapy” carried the script off so well I had a hard time taking notes because I didn’t want to miss a second of the play. Their body language was half the fun, it made the delivery of their lines extra believable.
This is your best bet for entertainment this weekend, so bring a date and leave the kids at home along with your reservations about alternative lifestyles - this is a guaranteed laugh.
“Beyond Therapy” shows at 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $10 Thursday and Sunday and $12 Friday and Saturday. All student tickets are $5.
