Spark Theatre: 9/6 – 9/27

     You have only one weekend left to catch up with director Linda Suttle and her delightful mash-up of Agatha Christie and Noel Coward in Spark Theatre’s hilarious production of Rob Urbinati’s “Death by Design.”

      The show begins as a playwright and his actress wife retreat to their home in Cookham after a hideous London opening night. Owen Niland and Michelle Grimes do a beautiful job inhabiting the roles of this constantly bickering couple with tongue firmly implanted in cheek. 

      Shortly after their arrival at Cookham an odd assortment of guests arrives including a politician, a socialist, a myopic ingénue and a zany modern dancer. Of course they all have secrets that come out when Bridgit, the quirky Irish maid sets out to solve a dastardly crime.

     LuAnn Buckstein steals the show with her hysterically funny portrayal of Victoria, the eccentric dancer. Victoria is brought to vivid life by Ms. Buckstein’s inimitable virtuosity in the realm of physical comedy. As her character sinks further and further into an alcoholic stupor Buckstein's physiology does everything from attaching itself barnacle-like to the back wall of the playing space to tying itself in knots as she attempts to seat herself in a drawing room chair . Buckstein is a genius of the comic variety and worth the price of admission all on her own.

     Deborah Curtis is hilarious as the maid who turns into a sort of Miss Marple of the domestic  variety.

     Such fine actors as Brad Wagner, Andrew Black, James Thompson and Kristen Mair take to the stage in the other wacky roles.

     There are plenty of red herrings and false endings and the chuckling in Act One does become more an audience guffaw as the chaos begins to unravel itself in Act Two.

     One must mention the costume design by Kati Oltyan. The choices of costumes and millinery for Ms. Grimes are delightful. Those for Ms. Buckstein are stupefyingly funny!

                  Spark Theatre is located at 985 Santa Fe Drive  
- For tickets go online to www.SparkTheater.org or call 720-346-7396- Marlowe's Musings