‘Corpse!’ Wrapped In Lively Comedy

“Corpse!” Friday, Jan. 8, Spokane Civic Theatre

For an audience weaned on Stephen King and Stephen Spielberg, the term “thriller” may be a bit strong to describe Gerald Moon’s “Corpse!,” which opened Friday at the Spokane Civic Theatre.

It has no serial killers, no aliens, no forces beyond the grave. The pleasure of this British “comedy-thriller” is more in the comedy, which comes almost entirely courtesy of Patrick Treadway.

Treadway is one of the few local actors who can pull off the feat of playing both Evelyn Farrant, an affected and fluttery English actor, and his twin brother Rupert Farrant, a stiff and dignified London financier.

Treadway maneuvers through the manifold perils of these roles without a misstep. He makes each character utterly distinct, even when they are dressed identically. He revels in Evelyn’s strangeness (Evelyn opens the play dressed in full drag), yet without making him into a stereotyped freak. And best of all, he always seems to find the comedy in the script, even while the apartment is sprayed with gunshots.

Moon’s plot has some surprising twists, mostly involving the difficulty of telling the twins apart. Yet it never has quite the shocks of “Sleuth” or “Deathtrap.” Ultimately, what keeps our attention riveted until the end is Treadway’s one-man high-wire act.

One minute, he’s Evelyn, the next he’s Rupert, the next he’s Evelyn pretending to be Rupert, the next he’s - well, after a while, we can only hazard a guess.

The rest of the cast is not quite up to this standard. Brad Picard does a decent job of playing the slow-witted thug-for-hire Major Powell, but he doesn’t mine all of the comic opportunities of the part. Dawn Taylor Reinhardt is effective as the randy Mrs. McGee, who apparently hasn’t quite figured out Evelyn’s sexual orientation. James Joy, as the policeman Hawkins, bellows his lines in too much of a monotone.

Director Maynard Villers keeps the action moving smartly along. The swordfight scene is wellchoreographed and credible. Villers also does a good job of delineating the differences between Evelyn’s world (shoddy and bohemian) and Rupert’s world (rich and uptight).

Set designer Nik Adams cleverly illustrates those differences with a divided set - Evelyn’s dump on one side, Rupert’s immaculate showplace on the other. Rupert’s flat features a fancy hidden bar, which, naturally, figures into the plot.

Moon’s dialogue is often obscure, filled with Shakespearean lines and odd bits of British slang. The year is 1936, and the characters chatter on about the king’s abdication. Anglophiles like myself will be in their element; everyone else might be baffled.

But mostly, everyone will be entertained. “Corpse!” doesn’t claim to be anything but entertainment, and thanks to Treadway, it delivers.