TAKING STEPS
However, one clever visual joke and one good role are not enough to make a farce superior, and Taking Steps is a weaker effort by Alan Ayckbourn, considered to be the British Neil Simon. But these two attributes, coupled with farcical devices (though standard), which Ayckbourn clearly has mastered, are more than enough to provide a few laughs, so if the Touchstone Theatre’s production of this play seems flat, the fault must lie with the production.
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Before Pauline Brailsford directed Ayckbourn’s Confusions at the Body Politic several years ago, she consulted with the playwright. “Cast good actors who won’t try to be funny,” he told her. “My plays are funny enough.”
Leslie, the owner of the house, shows up to make a sales pitch, and while they are taking a tour, Mark returns from the train station, having picked up his girlfriend Kitty, who dresses so tastelessly that she was recently arrested on suspicion of soliciting.
Director Ina Marlowe has cast a woman in the role of Leslie, the leather-clad motorcycle enthusiast who owns the house. That alone adds some interest to the role, but Melinda Moonahan fails to establish Leslie as the devious double-dealer that he–or in this case, she–really is.
