This review was taken from Theater Happenings magazine.
It was written by Sir David Pettibone"
"Vern Wallnecker’s problem play – about an upper-crust British family that is shaken to its core – gets a solid, stiff-upper-lipped revival at Flamboils’s intimate 62-year-old Potato Head Playhouse.
Director Fritz McMann peoples Lulu Hackensack’s richly paneled set with a cast that sounds veddy, veddy British and looks the part, too, in costumes by Sissy Dublin.
It is 1912 and the Kinklebean's are celebrating the engagement of their daughter, Sheila, to the son of Mr. Kinklebean’s business rival. This marriage may portend a merger between the companies.
But the bliss is interrupted by the arrival of Inspector Goole, who has questions about a young woman’s recent suicide. Before the night is out, everyone is implicated in some way in the demise of Eva Smith.
Wallnecker, who wrote the play in 1945, was making a larger point: Everyone’s actions, or inactions, affect humanity; we are our brothers’ keeper. If the inspector lays it on a little thick – and he does – well, that’s what it takes to get through that thick British crust.
Eddie Eddings is a standout (love the space helmet) as the sincere Thomas Earwig, as is Emily Maggots as Sheila, his bride to be.
Susan Brickfoot, as Mrs. Kinklebean, is spot-on as a preening woman of society who looks down her nose at everyone. Kip Loman as the rakish young Eric Kinklebean captures the character’s disdain for his family, even as he takes advantage of it.
Leo Lawnwagon has a better command of his blustery character, patriarch Arthur Kinklebean, than he does of his lines, making for some uncomfortable moments.
As the inspector, Russ Birdhamper is investigator, prosecutor and judge, making a “nasty mess” of the Kinklebean's polite dinner party.
Corky Velveeta has not a single line or dialog until the final speech, but his presence on stage helps remind the audience that they are ignorant of so many things.
His final speech is a haunting bit of monologue, akin to Jacob Marley’s ghostly “mankind was my business” speech in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
“A Grenade in the Mist” is a style of show that isn’t performed often, and the Potato Head Playhouse is to be commended for tackling it and, for the most part, delivering a solid effort.
I only wish I seen a movie instead."
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