'An Absolute Turkey' in Ramsey

Mistaken identities, mischievous alliances, misplaced luggage and really bad timing abound as the Ramsey High School Drama Club presents the comic farce An Absolute Turkey. The fast paced tale of philandering husbands and scheming wives will be presented on November 30 and December 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the RHS auditorium.

In this French farce, written by Georges Feydeau and translated by Nicki Frei and Peter Hall, a “turkey” refers to a fool, and in this case refers to many of the characters, not just one. Each character takes a turn being a “turkey”, resulting in a frenzy of complications as the central plot centers on the subject of revenge.

The play is about a faithful wife, Lucienne Vatelin, who announces to a relentlessly fawning paramour that she will never cheat on her husband, Crépin, unless she finds out that he has first strayed. A friend of her husband, Edmond Pontagnac, claims he can prove that her husband is planning a rendezvous that very evening in a local hotel. He sets out to prove this supposed infidelity, all the while hoping that Lucienne will choose him when she is ready to avenge her husband’s deceit.

In the second act, three couples are accidently booked into the same hotel room, and the chaos begins. The story and the characters spin out of control as everything that can go wrong does, as the young couples hilariously attempt to conceal their infidelities.  

For the Ramsey production, Eileen O’Connor is Lucienne, the ever faithful wife looking to catch and trap Crépin, her clueless husband, played by Bryan Jahnke.  Alex Zammitti is the incorrigible philanderer Pontagnac, with Ciara Bosh as yet another wandering wife chasing her husband. Nicholas Venturini plays the role of Ernest Redillon, a young man in search a substitutes for his true love, with Jimmy MacWilliams as Herr Soldignac, a lost husband on the trail of his straying wife Mitzi, played by Kierra Jordan.

Others in the cast include Carissa Lellos as Madame Armandine, an extremely friendly woman with money; Alex Albanese as the hotel guest and randy husband Pinchard; Christina Esposito as Madame Pinchard, the hard of hearing and equally hapless wife; Greg Argenio as a hormonal teenaged bellboy; Anna Klein as Clara, the continually harassed chamber maid; and John Iaccarino as the aged servant Gerome.

Rounding out the cast are Caity McHale as the controlling housemaid Jeanette, Hannah Mulligan as the extremely efficient hotel manager, Mark Andersen as the bombastic police inspector, Joshua Bialkin and Michael Brunton as confused hotel guests, and Stephen Colletti as a busy French policeman.

The Ramsey High School Drama Club presents An Absolute Turkey on November 29, 30 and December 1 in the high school auditorium. The performances begin at 7:30 each night. Tickets are $12 each and available at the door performance nights. For further information please call 201-785-2300. 

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The above was submitted by Ramsey High School.