The Promethean Theater's production of Joe Penhall's "Dumb Show" impresses even before it begins, and it doesn't let up through its two acts of silliness, satire and squirm-inducing drama involving celebrities and Britain's tabloid newspapers.
The action takes place in a posh hotel room in London where a TV comedian arrives to meet with two private banking executives eager to attend to all his financial needs. But soon enough in the play, and perhaps too late for the comic, we see that what's in the works is an engineered expose -- of venality at the least or, perhaps, of something more.
The mostly brown set deals in straight-backed dining chairs, sconces for soft white light and a curved white sectional. The clean lines seem mirrored in Matt Corey's recorded pre-curtain jazz piano, saxophone, drums, guitar, bass and Penhall's play throws some curves of its own.
The cast is amazing for this southeastern premiere. Gregg Weiner, who just won a regional acting award for his Sharky in The Seafarer at Mosaic Theater, here is Barry, the TV celebrity who knows he fills a room when he enters it. But Barry also knows the success could go away, so he doesn't mind having a bit more to drink and arranging ways to make, or retain, more money in the meantime. Weiner's Barry is a presence and Weiner's British accent never wavers, even though Barry's prospects do.
The broad-stroke comedy comes from Deborah L. Sherman, Promethean's producing artistic director, and David Sirois as the reporters.
In keeping with the play's namesake dumb shows, there's plenty of mime and body language to move the action. But the reporters have their unpalatable moments, and Sherman (who was in the award-winning ensemble of Promenthean's Two Sisters and a Piano) and Sirois deliver those as well. Libel laws in the U.K. make it easier for a plaintiff to prevail than laws in the U.S. do, so there's more bite to Barry's bluster than might be immediately evident. And audiences may well cringe as the sight the reporters force-feeding clichés into the mouth of their story's subject.
