Fallen Angels by Noel Coward at Main Street Theater July 2014

I admit not to know a lot of Noel Coward plays but I have seen a few over the years. With Noel Coward you expect a sophisticated living room (drawing room) comedy. It could sneak up on farce right?

When I got there I got most of that. I forgot I would also get British accent. How could I forget that? Well this had the accent and added a French "bad guy". Perhaps you shouldn't call him that. There was lots of speaking French by these sophisticated English women.

I was going to say the one thing I was wrong about was the sophistication. Well maybe the sophistication was all the French spoken. Maybe the maid was supposed to make it sophisticated. But I didn't buy it at all. This play was not sophisticated.

The play was funny in spots, awkward in spots, just plain slow in spots. I thought the acting was fine, the play just doesn't seem to have much to help them. The jokes were attempted, they were often dumb. They just did not work.

The maid might have been the most interesting character. She steals the scenes and her time alone on the stage were pretty funny. She reminded me of the maid in Clue, the Movie. The play attempted to be sophisticated fun (I guess) but pretty much failed. Sometimes it bordered on farce but I do not think that is what they were going for. I was disappointed.