"Two cops. Three crooks. Eight doors. Go."Unnecessary Farce is an award-winning stage comedy by Paul Slade Smith that combines all the elements of classic farce with a contemporary American plot.
In an economy motel room, an embezzling mayor is supposed to meet with his female accountant. In the room next door, two undercover cops are supposed to catch the meeting on videotape. But there's some confusion as to who's in which room, who's watching the video, who's taken the money, who's hired a hit man, and why the accountant keeps taking off her clothes. "Dazzlingly funny. Can a playwright re-invent the comic shtick of in-one-door, innuendo, out-the-other-door? In the case of Unnecessary Farce, the answer is yes." - City Pulse (Lansing, Michigan) "Actors have an edge when it comes to writing for actors. Just ask Molière. Actor/Playwright Paul Slade Smith certainly has the knack. And like the farceurs of old, he relies on character, rather than contrivance, to drive his increasingly frenzied, unrelentingly funny plot." - The Boston Globe "The funniest two hours of theater I have seen in several years. Something is at stake every second, and the most outrageous moments seem spontaneous and logical." - Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York) PRODUCTION HISTORYUnnecessary Farce received its premiere at the BoarsHead Theater in Lansing, Michigan in 2006, under the direction of Kristine Thatcher, and has had over 325 productions to date - throughout the United States, and in Great Britain, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Switzerland (in a Swiss German translation), Iceland (in Icelandic) and Canada (in both English and French).
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Jeremy Webb and Jennifer Cody at Cape Playhouse
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Paul Slade Smith is a writer and actor based in Brooklyn, New York. His latest play, The Outsider, received its East Coast premiere at Paper Mill Playhouse in January of 2018. As an actor, Paul received a 2019 Helpmann Award for Best Actor in a musical for his performance as Willy Wonka in the Australian premiere of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His past performing credits include the original Broadway casts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland, and the 2018 Lincoln Center revival of My Fair Lady; US national tours of Wicked and The Phantom of the Opera; and productions at American Repertory Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Goodman, Steppenwolf.
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