Penny Penniworth

Pervading the last few years is a style of theatre epitomized by the long running THE 39 STEPS (currently in its third year in New York), where a small cast plays multiple roles to tell a story. We also see it in the current BRIEF ENCOUNTER and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS a few seasons ago. This method turns the otherwise serious source material into comedy and reinvents the story. Not only that, it’s a very economical way to put on a play that might otherwise be a gargantuan endeavor. Emerging Artists Theatre’s production of PENNY PENNIWORTH by Chris Weikel used four actors to tell one of those sprawling Charles Dickens tales––only this one was Dickens-like, not from the actual Charles Dickens, and found humor in sending up a Dickens kind of world. The quick changes of costume, switching of gender by both necessity and because it’s always funny, knowing takes to the audience, puns and the general creation of theatre before our eyes made PENNY PENNIWORTH a potentially great time if only it had opened before THE 39 STEPS and the others like it.

Jamie Heinlein as Penny and others lead the ensemble of four talented and amusing actors: Christopher Borg, Jason O’Connell and Ellen Reilly. All were funny, but at times Director Mark Finley let certain jokes go overboard. Jason O’Connell’s speech impediment bit went from funny to irritating after the third time. A routine with removing a skirt to become a man’s cloak to differentiate between male and female characters voiced by a single actress took it’s toll as well. The length of this joke-fest was trying, however if Finley could have guided the actors through the material without layering on extra business the show might have played better. The enterprise was a good idea and we all know enough about Dickens to appreciate the send-up, so this comedy has possibilities, but this is not the best production it will ever have. Unfortunately, save for a previous outing at the Fringe Festival, it is the first.