Centering a play around a hotel elevator is one of those delightfully off-beat ideas that seem so staggeringly simple that it comes as something of a surprise to think that no one had come up with it beforeat least, no one worth speaking of here. While local playwright Neil Haven’s Stuck isn’t limited to the tiny space of an elevator in a retro-themed contemporary hotel, it is there that the comedy finds its central character and its heart. Ella is an agoraphobic elevator operator who makes her home in her workplace . . . eating, sleeping and spending 90% of her time going up and down and listening to people talk as she does so. She is charmingly played by Amanda Francke in the world premiere UW-Whitewater production of Haven’s comedy, which closes with two performances today (4pm and 8pm) at the Tenth Street Theatre downtown Milwaukee. It opened Thursday.
With Ella, Haven has centered the play around a fascinating character. Some of Haven’s best dialogue comes from her at the most unexpected times. Francke delivers Haven’s best dialogue in casual, understated tones. Over the course of the play, Ella answers nearly every question someone would have about an attractive young woman who has chosen to spend her entire life in an elevator and the immediate space around it. Much like the elevator itself, Ella’s personality becomes apparent as others enter her life. The central plot of the play involves a good looking university business school lecturer named Ian (Tyler King) who is having a great deal of difficulty in his relationship with his wife. He is visiting Milwaukee on business far from his home on the West Coast. Little does he know that his wife has come to the hotel as well . . . having hired a prostitute to attempt to seduce him to see if he has been unfaithful to her. You can probably guess the rest of the plot. There’s nothing terribly deep here, but Haven’s dialogue and Francke in the role of a very, very interesting woman are more than enough to give the play life.
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Though all of the elements of above par situation comedy are competently juggled by director Jim Butchart, the ensemble doesn’t quite manage to bring to the stage all of the right delivery and timing needed to do justice to Haven’s less obvious humor. In spite of this, the cast delivers more than a few brilliant moments . . . more than enough to make this particular production worth a look for anyone who might have some time free this afternoon or this evening. Today’s performances are the last two of four that close the production, which opened on the campus of the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater last month.
