Cheating Brits abound in Company’s ‘The Cottage’

By Rich Fahey

NORWELL – The British have turned several theatrical genres into cottage industries.

They have long since mastered mystery/detective plays, films and TV series, including such notable stage works as “Murder on the Orient Express” and “The Inspector Calls.”

Then there are the sex comedies, plays in which sexual mores are challenged or, in some cases, completely discarded. One of the most recent successful works in this theatrical cottage industry happens to be Sandy Rustin’s “The Cottage,” now enjoying a lively, hilarious re-telling at The Company Theatre.

Those who enter the cottage are invariably cheaters, liars, adulterers and — possibly – murderers. But that doesn’t make them bad people. The year is 1923 in the parlor of a countryside cottage on a Monday morning, and a woman named Sylvia Van Kipnis (Emilee Leahy) is fetchingly attired in a negligee, striking various poses. She is calling out to someone named Beau (Joe Rich) to come out and join her for …. you can guess.

It turns out the lovers who are both married to other people have been meeting once a year for 10 years  – cue the play and movie “Same Time, Next Year” – at Beau’s widowed mother’s home and are just winding down their latest tryst. Sylvia has made a fateful decision. In a bid to win Beau all for herself, she has sent telegrams to Beau’s wife Marjorie (Elizabeth Nelson-Childs) and her own husband Clarke (Timothy Pick) informing them of her infidelity.

The pair descend on the cottage. Let the chaos begin, as a very pregnant Marjorie and an outraged Clarke have their own secrets to spill, even before being joined by Deidre (Jacqueline Hausman) and her ex-husband Richard (Rob Gullickson), whose appearances add yet another layer to the ongoing chaos. Look for an uncredited walk-on appearance by Danny Bolton, a longtime mainstay of the troupe.

Got it straight? Good, because it gets much more complicated in Act II.

As Sylvia, Leahy sets the tone for the cast and her performance is sublime. But the rest of the cast is hard on her heels, including the Van Kipnis brothers, barrister Beau and accountant Clarke, who at first glance appear to be guardians of upper-crust morality but in truth prove to be anything but. Without revealing too much, suffice it to say that the six characters are connected in many unseemly ways.

As often happens in these types of comedies, there is a thin veneer of civility that is gradually eroded as events invariably get out of hand. That is precisely the moment when someone utters: “Tea, anyone?”

The test for the playwright and the play is whether in the midst of such chaos you can imagine these characters making such choices in real life. If the answer is yes, bingo! You have succeeded and anything that follows is fair game, including an extended fart joke in Act II.

Director Michael Hammond, also an accomplished actor and playwright, has instilled the required precise comic timing while making sure the accents don’t slip while keeping a stiff upper lip. “The Cottage” unfolds at a breakneck pace, although in Act II, the revelations and plot twists slow a bit and it seems Rustin is searching for a place to land the plane. But the piece has built up so much momentum in Act I that any slowing is hardly noticed.

The production values are as strong as the acting, starting with Ryan Barrow’s impressively detailed parlor, replete with hunting trophies, a window into a garden, and other lovely touches. Kiera O’Connor’s costumes are period-perfect and Dean Palmer Jr.’s lighting complements both.

“The Cottage” had in its 2023 debut on Broadway what is called in the theater “good bones,” with “Seinfeld” alum Jason Alexander making his directorial debut and a cast that included Eric McCormack of “Will and Grace” and Laura Bell Bundy of “Legally Blonde.”

The cast, crew, and director Hammond can be proud of their take on “The Cottage,” which captures the spirit and tone of a classic British sex comedy and provides for a most entertaining, laugh-filled evening of theater.

The Company Theatre production of “The Cottage.”  Written by Sandy Rustin. Directed by Michael Hammond. Presented through Oct. 26 at the Company Theater in Norwell. For ticket information, go to companytheatre.com or call the box office at (781) 871-2787.