The University of Tampa’s Department of Speech, Theatre and Dance presented “The Good Doctor,” a play by Neil Simon. The play was based on the stories of Anton Chekhov the famous Russian physician and playwright.
The play, which ran from Oct. 19 until the 22, was a compilation of various short skits all narrated or introduced by our host for the night, The Writer played by Chad Bursztyn.
The first of these skits was a hilarious sketch called “The Sneeze.” This sketch centered on an aspiring young man named Chardyakov, played by M. Emir Tekeli, and his boss, The General, played by Nathan Jokela. Chardyakov and his wife Sonya, played by Lydia Merriam-Pigg, are at the theater.
After taking their seats, they soon find that they are seated behind The General and his wife, played by Christina Kaminis. A series of hilarious introductions take place where both Chardyakov and his wife, overcome with enthusiasm, throw themselves into The General and his wife’s face while saying their “hellos.” As the play in the theater continues, Chardyakov, much to his dismay, is overcome with the need to sneeze and does so, splattering his boss in the meantime. What follows is a hilarious back-and-forth between The General and Chardyakov, who in a few minutes, turns from begging for forgiveness to screaming about social injustices in his boss’s face and back to imploring for forgiveness.
Other sketches included “The Governess,” starring Kaminis as the Mistress of the House and Hilary Kraus as Julia the Governess. “Surgery,” another hilarious sketch, was about a very inexperienced dentist (Jokela), and his very first patient, The Sexton (who happens to be sporting an agonizing, yet amusing toothache), played by Adam Barbay.
Other sketches worth noting were “The Seduction,” where we are let into the secrets of Peter’s ability to “seduce other men’s wives” using tools such as words and, ironically enough, the husbands themselves. However, the joke was on Peter, played by Barbay, when the wife he tries to seduce turns the tables on him and offers herself to him stating that she will at once love and loathe him for what he will cause her to do if he takes her into his arms. Needless to say, Peter, ‘the confirmed bachelor,’ ends up living happily ever after with a wife of his own.
“The Drowned Man” was yet another comical sketch about a man, The Sailor, played by Jokela, wanting to charge the writer to watch him drown himself. A flabbergasted writer turns to the policeman down the pier (Barbay), telling him of the maniac sailor and his “acting.” A horrified policeman responds to the writer that he wouldn’t pay more than 60 kopecks to see such a thing and tells him of other such acts where, “you could watch the whole navy go down” for just a few more rubles.
While the majority of the sketches were exceptionally funny, there were a few that left one wondering about how they fitted in. Such of those sketches were, “Too Late for Happiness,” a duet between two older people, played by Rose Connolly and M Emir Tekeli, and “The Audition,” which was basically that, where the next actress (Kraus) comes to perform for The Writer in hopes of becoming a professional actress in Moscow. While both of these were beautifully acted and very interesting, they contrasted vastly with the other sketches.
This play was by far different than any one I have ever seen. Stepping into the theater, the audience was seated upon the stage where we were treated to an almost a “behind the scenes” look at the writer’s development of these plays. However, the only setback to this “behind the scenes” view-point was exactly that, the view. While those in the front row surely had a fantastic time, those in the back were left to wonder about what was going on. Jennifer Pereira, coming to see the show during its last performance on Sunday, sat in the fourth row and said, “It was very interesting and fun. However I wish I could have seen it.”
All in all, the play was a giant success and a joy to watch. Congratulations to the entire cast, the crew and their talented director Gary Luter.