By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
In a flash of energetic characters, quick dialogue, and engaging scene work, Theatre Salina actors took to the Sunflower Financial Theatre stage and provided an intimate performance of "The Odd Couple, Female Version."
"The Odd Couple" is an original screenplay by Neil Simon, which initially portrays a group of men living in New York City who play Poker together in Oscar Madison's smoke-filled, sloppy apartment.
Simon replaced Oscar's character with Olive Madison, the female counterpart he described as "attractive, divorced, professional." The other main character of the original screenplay, Felix Unger, is replaced with Florence Unger, described as "attractive, a homemaker/housewife."
The revised characters mirror their male counterparts, with Olive remaining unbelievably sloppy yet charismatic and energetic. Florence also reflects Felix as she is obsessively organized and drives Olive mad throughout the narrative with her continuous cleaning of their shared apartment.
Upon presentation of each main character, the costume design matched these descriptions, with Olive sporting a ball cap, flannel and blue jeans and Florence in a well-kept dress and cardigan.
A review of "The Odd Couple, Female Version"
As the lights to the Sunflower Financial Theatre lit up the stage and glowed on audience members' faces, the first scene opens with four women sitting around a table in Olive's untidy New York City apartment.
Dice clack between Kristina Freeland's hands as she begins the play with the line, "C'mon baby, we need a piece of the pie!" portraying the character Mickey, a New York City police officer.
Her friends surround her at the table, including Sylvie, played by Lindsey Rojas — Renee, portrayed by Robin Dutton and Vera, played by Sara Young, with Olive making sandwiches for the group in the kitchen, off stage.
The costuming remains consistent here, with each character portraying their roles well. Mickey is dressed in her work uniform, complete with a badge and toolbelt, while the other ladies' fashion choices match the character's personalities well.
This first scene had the entire audience cackling at the line delivery and jokes put in place. The director, Amanda Reynolds, made great stage, costuming and production choices, where the actors felt like friends who had known each other for years surviving in New York City.
Olive enters the stage with a plate full of smelly sandwiches, likely made with expired meats and cheeses. She joins her group of friends at the table and comments about how they are missing one member, Florence.
A string of phone calls allows the audience to take a closer look into the character's personal lives, with the first call answered by Mickey, who regretfully admits to Olive that the person on the line was none other than her ex-husband asking for more money.
Mickey and the rest of the group are married except for Olive at the show's beginning, but the group soon receives another call after Mickey nervously waits for Florence to arrive.
The phone call is from Florence's now ex-husband, who filed for divorce.
All erupt into hysteria around the table, crying out in worry for Florence's safety as they call her "dramatic" and claim she'll attempt suicide if left alone.
The original screenplay also has this scene, but the men are more dismissive of Felix's outburst, while the women version continuously acts scared and hysterical.
Allison Yaple, who portrays Olive, plays the scene well, retaining the New York accent through convincing lines of dialogue, attempting to calm her friends as the doorbell rings. Through the stage door, Florence, portrayed by Shawna Carter, walks in, matching the theatrics and introducing her character as one of obsessive hysteria.
The group of women then try to calm Florence, tiptoeing around questions on whether she planned to harm herself, and they quickly find they're correct that Florence would use the attempt for attention.
As Florence entered the stage, the emersion broke as Carter struggled to continue a New York accent. Not all the other actors kept a New York accent, so Reynolds could have directed Carter to follow suit instead of a challenging New York accent.
Besides Florence's accent, Carter plays the character and scene with over-the-top line delivery and intense expressions alongside Olive.
The ending of this scene marks the tone of the rest of the set, with Olive offering her home for Florence to stay while she gets back on her feet — thus beginning the central conflict between characters.
Olive and Florence are opposites in the home, with Olive remaining sloppy and carefree while Florence picks up after her relentlessly. These characters portray the two extremes of what men think of women — either a nitpicky housewife who drives the husband mad or a woman who doesn't do enough work and isn't "worthy" of being a wife.
When comparing the Female Version to Simon's initial screenplay of "The Odd Couple," there's not a lot of difference in the script, showing a lack of nuance in the intricate lives of women. Instead of just "repainting" the characters, Simon could have changed the script to reflect the complex worlds that groups of women create.
Once Florence and Olive begin living together, Olive's apartment, the set of the play, transforms into a beautiful home, well-kept by Florence. At first, they live harmoniously with each other — Florence enjoyed the company while Olive enjoyed a cleaner place.
Soon, Olive tells Florence that, as single women, they should explore and meet the two Spanish gentlemen living in the building. The two men are brothers, Jesus and Manolo Costazuela, played by Loren Young and Joel Bicknell.
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Both men portray the characters well through broken Spanish accents but remain tender and hilarious throughout their scenes. When the men first meet Florence and Olive, they immediately begin gravitating toward Florence since her divorce was just a few weeks before.
The men connect with Florence well since they had recently divorced their wives in Spain and moved to New York City to start a new life. They sit together closely, sharing experiences while Olive prepares drinks in the kitchen, away from the stage.
During these scenes, the setting only elevated the performance, with moody lighting from a simple chandelier above the table and the audience merely feet away from the actors.
Overall, the lighting work complemented the stage, with warm spotlighting to direct the audience's focus through each scene.
The Costazuela brothers later invite the women to their apartment for more food and drinks.
Before the two women walk through the door to follow, Florence tells Olive that she does not want to go and makes a scene of "breaking her back" and that she's still emotionally tied to her ex-husband.
Florence's dramatic nature ruins the night for Olive, who then begins taking her frustration out on her roommate with another hilarious scene.
The next day, Olive is sitting on the couch in the living room when Florence walks past with a plate of fresh spaghetti. With a smug look, Olive crosses the room with a can of deodorizer and sprays all around Florence as she sits at the table, ready to eat her plate of food.
As a final display of annoyance, Olive sprays the plate, which causes the last fight between the women.
This begins the conclusion of the play — the women fight with Olive, kicking Florence out of the apartment, so Florence packs her things and storms through the door.
Later, the group of friends revisits Olive's apartment for game night. As the group surrounds the table, a knock raps against Olive's door.
Vera answers the door because Olive claims it's probably Florence returning to beg for forgiveness and a place to stay, and she doesn't want to see her.
Surprisingly, it's instead the Costazuela brothers who visit with Florence to retrieve some of her clothes from the apartment.
Monolo Costazuela informs Olive that he and his brother invited Florence to stay in their apartment while she gets back on her feet.
After further conversation and confusion, the brothers and Florence retrieve the rest of her things and leave, and the women return to their game night as the lights fade on the stage.
In conclusion, a hilarious American soap opera
In conclusion, the entire screenplay was well directed, with convincing performances from the actors who leaned into the comedic aspects of each scene.
Something delightful was the dynamic between the group of women — each time Mickey, Vera, Sylvie, Renee, and Olive sat around the table for game night, the actresses stole the stage with witty and quick line delivery.
Carter performed the character of Florence thoroughly with an over-the-top dramatic line delivery that felt right at home with a woman who adores soap opera media and performances.
The entire theatrical production did well on the show in the round stage, providing the community with an entertaining and delightfully hilarious performance of a facet of American history.