By STU CLAMPITT
Main Street Productions (MSP) is putting two flaming idiots on stage at Basile Westfield Playhouse for your amusement.
The play, Flaming Idiots, written by Tom Rooney, is being directed by Brian Nichols, who spoke with The Reporter about the show and why he thinks it is exactly what audiences need right now.
“It’s a modern-day farce,” Nichols told The Reporter. “It’s about two guys who have worked for the post office. Being burned out they decided to leave and open their own restaurant while knowing nothing about the restaurant business.”
When these two realize both that there are no customers coming in and that a restaurant across town has reservations for two years in advance after it was the site of a mafia hit, they hatch a plan.
“So, they decide to stage a mob hit of a cadaver,” Nichols said. “One of the guys has a relative who works for the morgue. He asked for a John Doe from the morgue to bring in and they hire a hitman to have it shot so it looks like there has been a mob hit at that restaurant. But as farces go, no plans ever come together well.”
Nichols has been involved in theater for 45 years, having begun at the age of 10. He taught high school English, speech and theater for 20 years. Flaming Idiots is his 25th show to direct and he has played parts in over 70 plays. He has also directed this show before.
“I submitted it [to the playhouse board] about a year ago just because of the gravity of things going on,” Nichols told The Reporter. “Even now, too, the pandemic seems to be never-ending, we’ve got high inflation, we’ve got the Ukrainian war. This show has no deep meaning. There is no deep pondering of themes when you leave. It is just a show to laugh at. I just want to provide an opportunity for a brief respite from what’s going on in the world, just to have a couple hours where the load is a little lighter and people can just laugh for laughter’s sake.”
The characters in this show include a 73-year-old hitman with memory trouble, a deaf-mute chef, a waiter who is an aspiring actor, an air-headed newspaper reporter who manages to get her dress caught in her purse, a Hispanic money-launder who swears he is from Norway, and of course, two flaming idiots who own a restaurant.
The MSP board of directors has chosen to make masks optional for patrons for this production.
Flaming Idiots will be on stage at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St., Westfield, from March 31 through April 10. Tickets and more info are available at WestfieldPlayhouse.org.