FOUND IN TRANSLATION

THE FOREIGNER
Directed by Lisa DiFranza; written by Larry Shue
With: Moira Driscoll, Andrew Harris, James Noel Hoban, Mark Honan, Daniel Noel, Jenn Thompson, and Rufus Tureen
At Portland Stage Company in Portland, Maine
From January 25 to February 20, 2005

Reviewed by Laurie Meunier Graves

In his review of the movie Bon Voyage, Joel Johnson observes, “One of the most difficult filmmaking challenges is making a film that presents the audience with two different tones within the same movie.” True enough, and Johnson goes on to describe how Bon Voyage successfully “layer[s] a farce onto a serious multicharacter drama.”

A similar challenge exists for The Foreigner, currently showing at Portland Stage Company. While it might be a stretch to call this play “a serious multicharacter drama”— for the most part, the characters are too stereotypical for that—this is certainly a play with different tones. At times, The Foreigner is a silly play with broad, slapstick humor. At other times, the dialogue is quite witty, and at still other times, the mood shifts completely, revealing the dark, ugly underside of human nature—greed, intolerance, suppression, and violence. Like Molière, Shue uses comedy and stereotypes to get at something larger, and, by gosh, even though it’s a tight squeak—The Foreigner balances precariously on that line between stupid and clever—Shue makes it work. Occasionally The Foreigner teeters, but it never falls, and Portland Stage Company’s fine production helps the play stay on course.

The Foreigner opens with two Englishmen, Froggy LeSueur (Andrew Harris) and Charlie Baker (Mark Honan), arriving at a fishing lodge in rural Georgia. Both are types the audience should be familiar with. Froggy is a hearty but eccentric military man who can adapt to any situation and is fond of blowing things up. Charlie is the awkward, introverted “Hugh Grant” type who is perpetually embarrassed and would turn himself inside out, if only he knew how. In the first five minutes, we learn that Charlie has a wife who doesn’t love him and who has sent him away with Froggy, even though she is very ill. But Charlie doesn’t really blame her. He readily admits that he is a bore and wishes he could engage in easy conversation, like his friend Froggy. In fact, Charlie is so shy that the thought of spending time alone in the lodge (Froggy must do some kind of military training) with other boarders fills him with dread. So Froggy comes up with the perfect solution. While Charlie is getting settled in his room, Froggy tells Betty Meeks (Moira Driscoll), the down-and-out owner of the lodge, that Charlie is a foreigner who doesn’t understand a word of English. That way, Charlie won’t have to speak and will be left in peace.

Charlie is horrified when he hears what Froggy has told Betty Meeks and resolves to set everything straight, but his plans are foiled when he overhears an intimate conversation between two of the lodgers, Reverend David Marshall Lee (James Noel Hoban) and his lovely, rich fiancée Catherine Simms (Jenn Thompson). It seems that Miss Simms is pregnant, even though Reverend Lee had assured her that he was sterile. Poor Charlie, hidden in a big chair, is discovered by the pair, who are of course upset at what he has heard. But then Betty Meeks, thrilled with the notion of having a foreigner in her lodge, comes rushing in from the kitchen to assure them that Charlie can’t understand English and that their secret is safe. What is poor Charlie to do except assume the role of the uncomprehending foreigner?

This is exactly what Charlie does, and in the process learns far more than if he had not been a “foreigner.” Charlie discovers that the good Reverend is not quite as patient and saintly as he pretends to be. In fact, Reverend Lee not only wants to marry Catherine for her money, but he also connives to cheat her younger brother, the not-so-smart Ellard (Rufus Tureen), who is also a lodger, out of his inheritance. Catherine, in turn, confides her hopes, fears, and discontents to Charlie, because he’s “a good listener.” Betty Meeks regards Charlie as affectionately as a pet skunk she once had and zealously dotes on him. More important, Charlie finds out that the volatile, racist Owen Musser (Daniel Noel) is in cahoots with Reverend Lee to steal the lodge away from Betty Meeks, and the men’s plans for the lodge bring a dark element into the story. In between all the plotting and misunderstandings, Ellard endeavors, with hilarious results, to teach southern English to Charlie, who proves to be a fast learner.

Naturally, all these plot elements come to a head, and I won’t spoil the fun by revealing the ending. Suffice it to say that by being a foreigner, Charlie Baker finds himself, and the play concludes satisfyingly with the triumph of the little man.

Portland Stage Company’s terrific cast came together to make this production spin along the way it should. Moira Driscoll played a droll Betty Meeks, eager, decent, and naïve, but somehow knowing at the same time. She provided a much-needed balance to the darker elements of the play. Rufus Tureen made Ellard seem as engaging as he was slow and gave him a basic decency that was strong enough to stand up to the evil he had to face. Daniel Noel, as the choleric Owen Musser, was loud and menacing, occasionally over-the-top but never out of character. Andrew Harris’s Froggy LeSueur was all brisk efficiency, exactly what we would expect from someone who likes to blow things up. James Noel Hoban did a fine job of portraying the seemingly innocent Reverend Lee, a Tartuffe-like character whose smooth demeanor hid a hard, scheming heart.

Finally there were Mark Honan and Jenn Thompson, Charlie and Catherine. As Charlie, Mark Honan was everything he ought to be, timid, uncertain, and full of doubt at the beginning of the play. Gradually, with the warm attention of Betty, Catherine, and Ellard, Honan’s Charlie began to bloom in his own way, clever and intellectual rather than macho and completely satisfying. Especially fine, however, was Jenn Thompson. She had some of the best lines, but her impeccable timing raised them from being merely funny to being truly witty. Thompson’s Catherine was the character with the most depth, a young woman teetering between girlhood and womanhood, still unsure of herself, but intelligent enough to realize the precariousness of her position. When it came to men, she certainly had her blind spot, but this is not unusual for very young women. Thompson inhabited the role of Catherine so completely that it hardly seemed as though she was acting, and it was pure pleasure to watch her on stage. This naturalness is a sort of grace that not all actors, even very good ones, have, and it seems to me it’s the equivalent of having perfect pitch in music. I only hope we see more of Jenn Thompson in future Portland Stage Company performances.  

 

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