Evening star., 1953-12-10

W. 4A(J - AAAAAO anu az 4OOob
one critic and a whole housefull
of customers have a delightful
time. Brandon Thomas nonsen-
sical riot is 81 years old but it
seldom has looked younger than
in Arenas reckless production.
Those who missed it during it's
long runs in New York-Straigh
with Jose Ferrer and musically
with Ray Bolger-now have
chance to restore this grievous
gap in their culture. Moreover,
it will also provide them with an
excellent palliative for that
hydra-headed problem Of this
pre-Christmas moment, what to
buy for whom, where, and how
to pay for it.
Precisely what was in Director
Carl Shain's mind approaching
this "Charley's Aunt" is for Mr..
Sham to say in his own words.
However, in Playwright t
Thomas wild words, what he
says is that this is the farce
capable of restoring its collec-
lively lost innocence to a theater
audience. It's basic idea-that
OF a robust college student i'm
personating classmates elderly
aunt - has been shredded by
countless radio and television
comics. Yet, all it ever needs to
regain its fine, foolish merit is
to be slipped back again into
the "Charley's Aunt" context.
Here, its organized chaos be-
comes so irresiStibly funny that
it might have cured Schopen-
hauer.
AS the Ferrer and Bolger tri-
umphS made clear, what Char
ley's Aunt" principally requires
is a suitable aunt for Charley.
Arenas production has just
the man in Dick Sykes. Mr..
Sykes is physically, mentally and
vocally mobile actor. The chal-
lenge Of a ribald impersonation
OF rich widow is the inspiration
for which he might have been
waiting all these (these9 years.
He snorts. huffs. rants and rolls
with a lecherous pinch like a
farceur who knows exactly why
"Charley'S Aunt" is a mountain
of mirth.
No matter how ironic it may
sound. this is the role he has
been working toward ever since
he began as Richard III" on
another local stage more than a
decade ago. When an impetuous
elderly suitor hands him flower
and he responds with "I'll have
1t stuffed" nonsense might be
on the fringe of another golden
age.
Naturally this business of
kicking the sanctity out of OK
ford University's undergraduate
life is no one-man job. 1t takes
a lot of actors, the least of them
in a physical condition that the
Redskins could envy. Arenas
young, to a male and female,
meet fully the farce's every
breath taking demand.
In the first scene, much too
Cutlery for this customers
taste. they have to guard them
selves a bit too closely against
injury. In the second act. how
ever, they move into the garden
for the rest of the evening. From
this point on, they really romp.
At least in "Charley's Aunt"
1t is the authors premise that
the really ridiculous sex is the
male one. Women are more the
influence that makes males what
they are, the more influential
for being as decorative as Marion
Reardon, Frances Sternhagen,
Lois Barden and Penny Young.
So. while these stand aside
avoiding being musSed, the males
are reduced to ruins.
Taking happily to this fate in
the current company are the
lot of Arenas stand-bys and one
gifted relative newcomer. The
latter is Gerry Hiken who plays
Charles Wykeham. the fairly in
nocent nephew of the havoc
raising aunt. Hiken's perform
ance is deftly shaped to show
that this DOOR devil is the last