Absurdist Comedy 'The Chairs' at APT

Anne Siegel, Shepherd Express

It is far easier to experience Eugène Ionesco’s play, The Chairs, than it is to write about it. But here goes.

The play, now running at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, only lasts 95 minutes (without an intermission). The best thing this reviewer could say about the play is, “I wish it was longer.”

Brevity is not something you’ll typically find at APT, particularly not at the outdoor Hill Theatre. Here, plays can run for three full hours (not always). But in the indoor theater, you never know what you’ll get (aside from air conditioning).

In this case, Ionesco’s absurdist comedy is completely delightful from start to finish. Two of APT’s finest performers, James Ridge and Colleen Madden, take the humor quotient to the max. Each scene is funnier than the last, with slapstick-type humor integrated with far more subtle jabs.

But unless audience members check the program, they’ll never guess that it’s Madden beneath all that makeup. She first appears in a mimed prologue, with more cosmetics on her face than a character in a Bertolt Brecht play. Along with her gaudy, overdone cosmetics, she is haphazardly dressed like a sleazy madam from a ramshackle brothel (costumes by Robert Morgan).

Send In the Chairs

Madden begins the show by twirling a lone theater “ghost light” around the stage. Meanwhile, one can hear the sound of lapping waves (composition and sound design by Ethan Korvene).

The play’s title suggests that some chairs will eventually be revealed. They certainly do – by the armful. Not all will do the job, however. Some of the wooden chairs have weak bottoms, while others completely disintegrate, etc. (Set design is by Courtney O’Neill.)

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