Email
Rick Johnston’s “Cahoots” is a pleasantly diverting comedy that extracts its humor from its characters’ responses to a murder among them. It is playing for another week at The Adobe Theater. The show premiered in England in 1986 and in New York four years later. Adobe director Kenneth Bennington and his cast have fun with the material, and so does the audience.
“Cahoots” is set in the midtown Manhattan apartment of Jan and Ken Miller, who are hosting their friends Lois and Al Shields for dinner before they all attend a “Crime Busters” block association meeting. Al is to be the speaker; he is obsessed with crime in New York City since his brother was murdered almost a year earlier. In fact, he is carrying a pistol he recently purchased. But that is not the murder weapon.
While Jan and Lois are best friends, Ken and Al dislike each other. Their enmity flares into a fusillade of insults that ends in lethal violence.
I won’t divulge too much of the intricate plot, but suffice it to say that the surviving trio – in “cahoots” – devise a variety of scenarios to explain the homicide. Despite the dark circumstances, their dialogue is clever and funny. One character advises the others, “Now the thing is to stay as close to the truth as possible. It’s easier to lie that way.”
When uniformed Alex Grant appears on the scene, the conspirators abandon their prepared explanation and talk continuously at cross-purposes. Grant ultimately joins the cabal.
The cast is strong. Michael Girlamo nicely captures the obsessed Al. His character doesn’t see the irony in carrying a gun, for which he has no permit, to speak on crime prevention. Stephen Zamora, who caught my eye in the Adobe’s production of “Angel Street,” is an engaging Ken. He is able to present his character’s strange ideas without seeming strange.
As Jan, an aspiring actress, Teresa Kizziah effectively employs theatrical gestures and articulation. Lois, however, has a wider range of emotions, and Adobe favorite Taunya Crilly projects a spectrum of responses. Crilly has a flair for physical comedy.
Newcomer Celina Igwe is a pleasant surprise as Grant whom she portrays with a fascinating combination of verve and larceny.
I’ll give you a clue: Mr. Miller in the dining room with the 3-foot pepper mill.
— This article appeared on page F3 of the Albuquerque Journal
