"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 350 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).
PUBLISHED BY PLAYSCRIPTS |
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 three plays (Unnecessary Farce, The Outsider, and Theatre People, or The Angel Next Door) have collectively received nearly 500 productions. As an actor, Paul's credits include the original Broadway casts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland, and the Lincoln Center revival of My Fair Lady. Following its Broadway run, Paul starred as Willy Wonka in the Australian premiere of Charlie... His TV credits include "The Blacklist," "The Other Two," and "The Guilded Age."
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