Review: Stage vets strengthen Players' 'First Things First'

What a tangled web the River City Players weave in their current production, "First Things First."

The basic plot is simple: Pete (A.J. McNamara) married Sarah after his first wife Jessica went missing in a mountain climbing accident. Jessica (Holly Raines) shows back up, and Pete has to figure out how to tell the two women about each other.

But of course, nothing is ever that easy. If it were, Derek Benfield wouldn't have written the play about it.

Pete lies to Jessica, saying his best friend George is married to Sarah. When Sarah returns from a party, Pete alludes to a fictitious relationship between George and Jessica. Poor George needs constant reminders and ends up as a source of confused amusement throughout the play.

The show opens with Sarah, played by Lindsay Randolph. Randolph is an RCP senior, and it shows in her performance. Her comfort on the stage and ability to work around distractions -- a certain whistle from the tracks outside, for instance -- shine in this play, which is her fifth performance with RCP.

Randolph is joined by several stage veterans, who each strengthen the cast in this comedy. McNamara, Raines and Shovan (as Margot, Sarah's mother) have all appeared on the stage at Port Cape before.

These returning actors have become comfortable on stage and treat the set like their own living rooms. The difference here is that everyone speaks in a British accent. Most of the time. The intonations fade occasionally, but the effort remains and the accent usually comes back quickly and sound fairly natural thanks to coaching by Tana Howard.

Freshmen members Doug Howe and Sean Lightfoot follow eagerly in these worn footsteps, expertly directed by Joe Reed who as an actor always added that little touch to his character and as a director added quirky mannerisms to these.

Howe, not one for interviews and words in print, delivers his scripted lines with believable and hilarious awkwardness. Howe plays George, Pete's idiot sidekick who brings the original lady of the house, Jessica, over when she turns up alive.

Lightfoot's time on stage as Alan is short but well-served. He's the final rise in temperature that makes the lies boil over and the real story come to light -- amid a lot of laughs.

A show-only performance starts at 7 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $15. The dinner shows open at 6:30 p.m., serve at 7 and start at 8 Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $30.

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