'Cash on Delivery' delivers high hilarity

By TOM TITUS

When Sir Walter Scott opined, "Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive," he hardly could have been aware that he was establishing a plot line for dozens of future English stage comedies.

Deception, trickery, physical farce and cross dressing have long been the ingredients for the Brits' funny bone ticklers, many from the pen of playwright Ray Cooney.

Now comes Michael Cooney, who must be related — if only in playwriting style — with the epitome of the English farce entitled "Cash on Delivery."

Currently romping about the stage of the Huntington Beach Playhouse, "Cash on Delivery" offers virtually all of the elements of freewheeling farcical theater, with the production's physical aspects outweighing its flimsy plot line. Director James Rice is well aware of which buttons to push for maximum audience effect.

Cooney weaves a particularly tangled web as he introduces a young Englishman (Daniel Grzeskowiak) who's been playing fast and loose with the Social Security system ever since he lost his job a few years ago.

This crafty fellow has invented dozens of imaginary boarders at his home to receive generous tax benefits, all of which go directly into his own bank account.

It's when he attempts to right the situation that the wickets become a bit sticky. Neither his wife (Stephanie Schulz) nor their upstairs boarder (Satch Purcell) are aware of his chicanery and thus become living props in a developing, and intricate, plot.

Grzeskowiak excels at the frantic pace demanded of his character, vaulting over furniture and shifting people in and out of various rooms.

Schulz is particularly strong as his outraged wife, transforming a fairly straight role into a roaring comic delight.

The put-upon Purcell, who must impersonate others at a second's notice and ultimately show up in drag, provides the most devastating physical comedy. The schemers have a perfect foil in an elderly inspector from the government (Stu Ericksen), who reaps laughter simply by playing it straight.

Then there's Uncle George (Tony Carnaghi), who has his own scam going on but becomes enmeshed in his nephew's after several slams against an opening door render him lifeless. Jake Wells is a chronically flustered psychiatrist and Tommy Carroll enacts a ramrod-straight undertaker.

Effectively swiping her scenes late in the action is Alicia Erlinger as the much-feared chief bureaucrat, who descends on the action like an avenging vulture. Melissa Sarah McCrone and Julia Hogan complete the company in more limited, decorative assignments.

Farcical comedy mandates a goodly number of doors to accommodate accelerated entrances and exits. Set designer Jim Gruessing's layout has four of them, all utilized quite liberally.

Bettie Muellenberg and Dawn Conant have created some colorful costumes for visual icing on a tasty cake.

If ever there was much ado about nothing, "Cash on Delivery" is it, but most playgoers will be too busy laughing to realize they're also being taken for a ride that Shakespeare never envisioned.

This is a show for people who simply need a really good laugh.