Phillyist Reviews... The Karma Cookie

Is it just me, or is comedy even better when it's done with a Cockney accent?

Silly question. It's not just me. I know that at least one person agrees with me on this: Philadelphia-based playwright P. Seth Bauer, whose play The Karma Cookie, is in its world-premiere production by 1812 Productions through this Sunday. The play centers on brothers Barry and Alistair (Anthony Lawton and Jered McLenigan) who, spurred on by a rather odd—but very clear—fortune cookie message, "find themselves on a fast paced, hilarious ride through Chinese restaurants, extreme aerobics classes, far-out meditation with disappearing monks, and unbelievable trips on clockwork trains." (Thank you, 1812, for putting it more concisely than I would have.)

The play is episodic, composed of related though completely independent scenes, somewhat choppy at the start, but more fluid as the show progresses. The fact that we don't stay in any one scene for more than seven minutes or so helps the show move quickly and keep the audience engaged in the absurdity of it all. And almost without exception, these episodes are hilarious. The aerobics and meditation scenes highlighted in 1812's synopsis of the show are indeed two of the play's highlights and display Lawton and McLenigan's acting prowess: the former shows off their impressive ability to count out dance moves while still delivering lines—with perfect Cockney accents!—and the latter allows the two so much freedom with the absurd that Beckett himself might not have been able to write a better pair for these two to play. (That The Karma Cookie is strongly reminiscent at times of Waiting for Godot is surely no accident.) The two actors are engaging, aided but not overwhelmed by Matt Saunders' set design and Paul Moffitt's lights, and the laughs they elicited from the audience were genuine, never uncomfortable or forced. In all, it seemed that this production was a perfect example of what happens when you get a director (Pete Pryor) who really knows his actors and is willing to collaborate with his designers.

Although the final twenty minutes or so of the play passed a bit more slowly than the rest (the group of high school students in the audience last night agreed, apparently—a few seemed to nod off toward the end of the play), all in all, The Karma Cookie was one of the more genuinely entertaining, belly-achingly funny plays that I've seen of late. With only six performances left (including tonight), there aren't many chances left to see 1812's production—but if you've got a free evening this week, I recommend that you spend 80 minutes of it at the Adrienne Theatre.

Anthony Lawton and Jered McLenigan appear in 1812 Productions' The Karma Cookie, onstage at The Adrienne Theatre through March 29. Photo by Mark Garvin.