Love Loves A Pornographer
The Circle X Theatre Company is one of the best theatre companies in Los Angeles. Some of their previous productions have included Laura Comstock’s Bag Punching Dog, In Flagrante Gothicto, and Great Men of Science Nos. 21&22 andhave all been nominated or have won various awards. The latest offering by this splendid company is a hilarious and stylish play called Love Loves A Pornographer andwill doubtless be nominated for a few more awards.
Love Loves A Pornographer is about “blackmail, adultery and cucumber sandwiches” according to the press release. It is also about sex, manners, hilarity, over-the-top acting, and secrets, many many secrets. The plot unfolds in a beautifully designed English parlor on the estate of Lord Loveworthy. The set by Gary Smoot with lighting by Karl Gajdusek is one of the best I have seen this year and the best use of the Inside The Ford Theatre. There must be around 75 oil paintings, reproduced I am told by Xerox and shellac, and all individually illuminated, which adorn all the walls of the theatre. Very impressive. The costumes by Paul Spadone are just right and complete the picture.
All this would be to waste if it weren’t for the fine acting by the talented ensemble. First there is the drool butler Fennimore played by Weston Nathanson with a wonderful childlike glee. Then you have the next door neighbors, the Reverend Miles Monger (a hilarious camp Jim Azide, and his long suffering wife played by Johanna McKay looking for all the world like Lynn Redgrave and with similar talents.
The Loveworthys are a scheming lot played by William Salyers, Gillian Doyle, and their daughter Emily, the lovely Kathleen Rose Perkins. They all could have been out of some Agatha Christie novel and full of as many surprises. Earl Kant rounds out the cast playing Emily’s sullen American fiancé with a secret or two of his own. There is great fun in watches all the twists and turns of the plot unfold and set right at the end. The witty script is by Jeff Goode who has scripted over 50 plays and whose work is seen around town in some of the best theatres. The director is Jillian Armente and her work is flawless. I recommend this one for a fun evening in the theatre.
The Circle X Theatre Company at Inside The Ford