'Don't Dress for Dinner' opens tonight at Rose Theatre

In the first act of the French farce "Don't Dress for Dinner," two male characters assist an actress with a daring on-stage costume change. Two of the female characters spend most of the second act in negligees. The French insist on being different. Vive la difference.

The comedy opens tonight at the Rose Theatre.

"Don't Dress for Dinner" is a contemporary comedy written by Frenchman Marc Camoletti, although the English adaptation is set in England. Bernard (James Adams) has planned to spend a weekend with his mistress, a model named Suzanne (Lydia Blades), while his wife, Jacqueline (Janel Mason) is away visiting her mother. He has invited his friend, Robert (Tim Nicolai), along for appearances and has hired a Cordon Bleu chef named Suzette (Meagan Edmonds) to provide the repasts.

But Bernard doesn't know his wife and Robert are having an affair. And when Jacqueline discovers that Robert is coming to town, she decides to stay home. The rest of the evening is a boozy free-for-all in which the lovers attempt to wind up in each other's beds and everyone concocts lies to keep Jacqueline and Bernard from finding out about each other's infidelity.

The fact that Suzette and Suzanne are mistaken for each other almost from the start makes the mission even more difficult. That's farce. So is a model trying to cook and a chef pretending to be a model.

Suzette's mercenary side asserts itself as she is drawn into increasingly creative fabrications. One of the play's funniest bits is based on her repeated demands for money in exchange for lies.

An interesting dynamic is at work in this play, perhaps one that is particularly French. Bernard repeatedly asks Robert to lie to Jacqueline to keep his liaison with Suzanne secret. Robert always acquiesces, even though reluctantly. Clearly Robert's allegiance to Bernard is stronger than his loyalty to Jacqueline. Of course, if it weren't we'd have a very different play.

The cast is a strong one. The nonstop repartee between Adams and Nicolai is incredibly well timed, almost as if the conversation was real and not an act. Adams is like a charging bull who won't be swayed from his target. Nicolai is quite good at playing flustered.

Mason often has played sexy characters in her college career. Here she thinks she's been cuckolded by her own lover. In the French tradition she's giving as good as she gets, and Mason has the force to pull off the indignation.

Blades is fine as the model. It's nice to see one portrayed as someone with a brain, even if that brain is fond of expensive clothes.

Edmonds has much of the comedy's physical human and has a talent for it. She and Nicolai probably will still be tangoing at the year-end banquet.

James Vondielingen plays Suzette's jealous husband, George, who appears at the end to help sort out the final convoluted explanation.

Student Sarah Moore came up with costumes ranging from a mock Chanel dress to pajamas.

Director Dennis Seyer does a fine job of keeping this speeding train from running off the tracks. His set, a replica of a barn turned into a house, is first-rate, enveloping the actresses and actresses in their own lies.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

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