Thursday, July 19, 2012

Twylight Zone: the 6th Dimension

written and directed by David Gallic
produced by Four Letter Theatre

review by Phillip Kelly

What a fun show. It's a night of four satirical, absurdist episodes, poking fun at Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone". Not every piece is as good as the next, but there isn't a dud in the bunch.

The scripts by Gallic feature a lot of guffaw inducing zingers and clever to ridiculous moments, which the cast of five chews on wholeheartedly. There are no pretensions, everyone here is having a fun time and they let you in to enjoy as well.

"Nick of Time" was probably my favorite Ray Fallon and Alex Bueno, Don and Pat Carter are newlyweds traveling the country when their car breaks down. They stop by a quaint cafe and come across a fortune telling machine, that does just what it says it will. The play acting between Ray and Alex is spot on and Matt Stevens and Louise Martin fill the supporting roles in this piece with hilarity. All while Kyle Overstreet flip flops between his Rod Serling and a bouncy mechanic.

Each actor is given the opportunity to lead and support throughout the night. And every actor has their moments of comedic hilarity.

It's scrappy, like sketch comedy. The set is simple, at times it even looks like it was assembled by pieces found in the alley behind the theatre - but it doesn't matter. The production embraces this scrapiness using cheaply made but hilarious special effects, creative staging to show, for instance, the forward movement of a car, and four commercial breaks projected on white cardboard of products that existed when the original Twilight Zone aired. These commercials are hilarious.

The evening may go on a little long for a show of it's kind, I felt my interest wane a little at the end, but not so much that I didn't leave with a smile on my face. You will enjoy yourself.


The Twylight Zine: The 6th Dimension
Written and Directed by David Gallic. A Four Letter Theatre production.
Where: studio/stage, 520 N Western Ave., Hollywood, CA 90004
plays Thurs-Sat through July 28th. 8pm
$20 general admission, $15 for students and seniors
for reservations email: reservations@fourlettertheatre.com
www.fourlettertheatre.com

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