It doesn’t take long for ‘Exit’ to take wrong turn

You know what you're in for pretty quickly during SFS' production of "Exit the Body" at the Starbright Theatre.

An actress playing a servant (Blaire Martin) is supposed to have a loud giggle, so of course, she has the loudest, most obnoxiously fake giggle you've ever heard.

One of the characters is supposed to be a charming real estate agent, so to liven things up, director Queintin Waters has her, for no reason, portrayed by a man in drag (MJ Sullivan).

The play takes place in New England, but a hunk of the residents have Southern accents, which is apparently the director's way of showing how ignorant they all are.

For the record, the Fred Carmichael summer stock play is about a female mystery writer who rents a home in New England only to find all the local crooks know there is a bunch of stolen jewels hidden there. Confusion reigns when lots of people pretend to be other people. It takes a lot of skill to pull off this sort of slapstick, and sloppy playing is just about the opposite of what slapstick is about.

A cast member or two is talented, but it's difficult here to determine if anyone is capable of playing any sort of reality. This is Walters' directorial debut. Surely better days lie ahead.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.