Review: 'The Foreigner' by Two Planks Theater Company

I didn’t really know what to expect and then it turned out to be nothing I ever expected.

The logo of ‘The Foreigner’ by Larry Shue, put together with the title, suggested to me international spies and intrigue. Not even close. The photo I saw online of the cast members at Two Planks Theater Company that were directed by Susan Halliwell on the set designed by producer Brooke Burling looked like American hunting lodge. The description of the characters that I Googled before the curtain (which I have never done at any other performance) only added to my confusion.

It turns out that the piece is a farce that is in fact set in a rustic lodge in rural Georgia USA. Charlie Baker (masterfully played by Mike Martone, Jr.) is the foreigner, but it is all a ruse. “Froggy” LeSeur (Larry Pisani) is a British soldier and Charlie’s friend. Betty Meeks (Phyllis Fabelinsky) is the owner of said rustic lodge. The Rev. David Marshall Lee (Robert Thomas Halliwell) is a guest at the lodge who is with his fiancee Catherine Simms (Antonietta Delli Carpini) and her brother Ellard (Jonny Yagovane.) Owen Musser is a bigot played by Phil Lorenzo.

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‘The Foreigner’ continues at Two Planks May 15, 20, 21, 22 Fridays and Saturday evenings at 8pm and Sunday matinee at 5pm at United Methodist Church 515 Cutlers Farm Road, Monroe. Coming from Two Planks outdoors under the stars at Monroe’s Wolfe Park this summer will be ‘Gypsy,’ ‘Disney’s The Little Mermaid,’ and ‘Disney’s Mulan, Jr.’