Review: A Fox on the Fairway

Review: A Fox on the Fairway  | Coal Creek Theater | Louisville, CO | Curtain Up! | Gina Robertson

Folks in Louisville can find a jolly farce on the fairway this month, presented by Coal Creek Theater.  A Fox on the Fairway appears through May 16^th at the Louisville Center for the Arts. Ken Ludwig’s play spoofs golf culture with a madcap cast of characters and an implausible series of misunderstandings and misadventures.

The story centers around a golf tournament in which two rival country clubs compete, and on which two old rival golfers place a steep wager. Justin Hicks (Joshua Caraballo) has been brought in to help Quail Valley win the tournament, and he’s just proposed to Quail Valley employee Louise Heindbedder (Jaccie Serbus). Caraballo plays a manic young man with just a couple of brain cells searching for each other in his head. He darts and dashes about the stage, never making a calm entrance but bursting onto the stage at a full gallop at every opportunity. His physical comedy is hilarious, with a face that is delightfully clownish.

Jaccie Serbus as Louise & Joshua Caraballo as Justin | Photo by Katie McManus

Serbus’s character, Louise, is in love with Justin and spends a great deal of time getting chased around by him. Her gifts are comedic sobbing and outlandish outrage.

Henry Bingham (David Cervera) and Dickie Bell (Bill Graham) are the old golf club gents with too much money and too much time on their hands to avoid getting into mischief. Cervera’s Bingham is less campy than the others, at least until he gets drunk and accidentally broadcasts himself making a pass over a hot microphone. Graham’s Dickie Bell is devilishly funny. Not only is he greedy and underhanded, he’s quirky, with a love for outlandishly loud sweaters. Graham takes delight in these character elements and steals the show.

Faye Quam plays Bingham’s wife, Muriel, the owner of an antique store who receives delivery of a fancy, expensive vase that figures largely in the wild adventure. She’s one corner of a romantic rectangle that develops, and Pamela Peabody (Beth Crosby) is the other corner. Crosby is entertainingly slutty and drunk throughout, with a charming way of crossing her eyes while pretending to be blinded by hysterical mental trauma. She works to help her boss beat his rival, her ex-husband, and to help Louise navigate a dramatic spat with Justin.

Costumer Kathleen Rausch gets a chance to show off as the cast puts on formal wear for the evening scenes. Serbus and Crosby are dazzling in their dresses, and Caraballo is especially dashing in his white tuxedo with red accents.

Directors Dan Schock and Jim Terwilliger unleash the absurdity with high-speed chasing, stomping, fighting, dancing, snogging, and golf. The cast have great chemistry together, and every actor understands what their character is meant to do. A good time is had by all, especially the audience. Watch for an easter egg during the curtain call as the entire play is re-enacted in zany triple-time.

For Information and Tickets: https://www.cctlouisville.org/shows/ken-ludwigs-a-fox-on-the-fairway#/productions-view