JONESBOROUGH REPERTORY THEATRE

Before Monty Python’s Flying Circus came “Beyond the Fringe,” with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. The two comic geniuses perfected a type of British humor based on absurdity characterized by refusal to face reality when it’s slapping you in the face.

Tonight and Saturday night at 8, Bill Counts and Dee Bailey will return Cook and Moore’s “Good Evening” to the stage of Jonesborough Repertory Theatre.

Directed by Bill Williams, “Good Evening” has been described as a definitive anthology of British sketch comedy. It originally was produced in 1973, with some of the material drawn from Moore and Cook’s 1961 revue “Beyond the Fringe,” and their critically acclaimed BBC program “Not Only ... But Also.”

Among “Good Evening’s” characters is Sir Streeb-Greebling, who owns a failed restaurant, the Frog and Peach, located in the middle of a bog in the heart of the Yorkshire moors. Streeb-Greebling offers two menu choices: Frog a la Peche and Peche a la Frog. He met his wife, Morag, during World War II when she “came in on a bit of shrapnel and was imbedded in the sofa.”

There’s also Arthur Shepherd, who offers an eyewitness account of the Nativity to a reporter from the Bethlehem Star. Another sketch tells audiences “more than they would ever care to know about mining,” Counts said.

Bailey, former owner of Highland Dinner Theater, shares the stage with Counts, who helped stage “Good Evening” for JRT in 1988 and 1992. Although Counts worked for Bailey’s Highland Theatrical Co., it is the first time the two have appeared on stage together.

Counts was “theater-free” for two years before agreeing to the revival of “Good Evening.” His last performance was in Bailey’s production of “Blithe Spirit.”

According to Bailey, “Good Evening” has “every possible permutation of the English language and features all aspects of British life.”

“And all are equally ridiculed,” Counts added.

Bailey, who is from Glasgow, Scotland, laughingly said he was considered “for the accent work.” Counts, a skilled mimic, has mastered the range of British dialects used in the show.

And, as if 22 different characters in 11 different sketches aren’t enough to draw an audience, Counts promises the play features “the world’s worst knock-knock joke.”

Article courtesy of johnsoncitypress.com