Something funny is going on at Theatre Frisco. It’s called The Cottage.
Set in the English countryside, the Dallas premiere of Sandy Rustin’s 2023 Broadway play whisks audiences back to the world of the witty drawing room comedy style of Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde. The plot is packed with impossible coincidences and remarkably rapid-fire repartee. But Rustin tells it through a feminist lens and there lies a welcome twist that swirls a delicious modern sensibility into this confection.
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The story begins with Sylvia, in a silky green negligee, trying to find just the right position on the sofa, as she calls and coaxes her love, Beau, to emerge from the bathroom on a Monday morning. With the punchlines propelling from the plot, I don’t want to give too much away. I’ll just say this — Sylvia and Beau’s relationship is complicated. The complications are compounded when Sylvia sends telegrams about their love to another couple who come rushing to the cottage. Then another woman arrives. Another man arrives. And the stakes get higher and sillier.
A soufflé requires a lot of feverish mixing and timing. Under the impeccable direction of Mikey Abrams, this wonderful ensemble is brilliantly up to the task. Kristin Sutton Ford brings vivacious glamour to Sylvia, while carving an emotional arc that makes her growth the true north of the story. Kevin Moore brings an irresistible charisma to Beau, who clings unwaveringly to his own very individual sense of rightness even when what he does is wrong to everyone else.
As half of the second couple with unexpected ties to the first, Newsha Sadri gives us a Marjorie who is an admirable force of nature, while Jake Shanahan offers a charming and comically clueless Clarke — the perfect foil to the controlling characters around him. As the unexpected guests of whom I am trying to say as little as possible, Skyler Malone is a ditsy delight as Dierdre and Joshua Hawkins is a multi-layered man of many (funny) faces as Richard.
Rodney Dobbs’ delicious set, infused by the warm glow of Josh Hensley’s lighting, spills details of a cozy, upper class country life from the edge of this intimate black box theater to the audience. Michael Robinson’s elegant, costumes add ‘wow’ to the rich texture of this world.
For thousands of years, men have dominated the art of playwriting. As more female voices emerge, we have the pleasure of hearing different, much needed and often profound perspectives. Only a handful of women, however, have applied their skills to drawing room comedies. That makes Rustin’s work, which finds and exploits cracks in the formula, all the more welcome.
So check out The Cottage at Theatre Frisco where you will laugh as glittering threads come together in a story that’s a little braver, bolder, and more promising than the pattern you’ve seen before.
The Cottage continues through Nov. 15 at Theatre Frisco, 8004 Dallas Pkwy, Frisco. $35. 972-370-2266. theatrefrisco.com