Described as a farce, Rumors builds on unbelievable situations to create a hilarious play. Rumors opens with characters Chris and Ken panicking about Charlie’s, the deputy mayor of New York who remains off-scene for the show, suicide attempt. Chris and Ken have to deal with controlling the situation as more guests arrive to Charlie and Myra’s 10th anniversary dinner party. Slowly, as more guests arrive, Chris and Ken’s stories become crazy and uncontrollable to the point at which everything falls flat and the truth is revealed.
The play relies on the use of irony to deliver humor to the audience. Whilst most of the cast is off stage, the remaining members clue in the audience on details of the night. As the remaining cast members arrive, covering-up the event becomes more and more difficult. Once a cast member learns, they embrace the idea and become rude and sarcastic towards the others to prevent the truth from spilling out. Aside from the initial problem of Charlie’s suicide attempt, each character has a problem – from a car accident to marital problem – that complicates the tense situation even further. Each one of the actors and actresses were able to create an awkward and tense environment.
Each actor and actress was able to capture the lifelike emotions of dealing with a tense situation perfectly. Michelle Yip, who played the role of Chris, was able to flawlessly deliver sarcastic and ironic lines in the play’s situations. Julia Cahn, who played the role of Claire, had perfect expressions for every moment within the play. Luke Langner, who played the role of Pudney, was able to create perfect imitations of everyone’s actions in the second act of the play.
The only criticism I have about the show are the few problems with plot details. In Act I, it is revealed that multiple characters have suffered injuries due to accidents. However, in the second act (which takes place only a short time after the first act), all of the injuries seemingly disappear – as if they were healed by magic. Any other criticism beyond this would be nitpicking the show to extreme detail and is not needed.
Stevens Dramatic Society (SDS)’s fall production Rumors will be performed at DeBaun Auditorium on Nov. 11 at 8 p.m., and Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets are free for Stevens students and are $7 for general admission. Rumors features Michelle Yip, Kevin Raleigh, Julia Cahn, Ian DiGuillo, Amanda Atzil, Michael Curry, Kiera Dillion, Matt Colozzo, Katie Brown, and Luke Langner.
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