Something happened on the way to the funny

Hart House Theatre’s season kickoff production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum holds much enjoyment: an energetic and appealing cast, some creative—if not limiting—set design, plenty of dynamic dance numbers, and a terrific band. The quandary then is the show itself, an old chestnut which, despite noble efforts from many of the performers, was just not that funny.

Forum has a pretty basic plot—in Ancient Rome, three houses fill the stage—The House of Lycus (a.k.a., the local cathouse); the House of Senex, a wealthy and licentious citizen; and the House of Erronius—owned by an old man who’s hit the road in search of his children, stolen by pirates. Got that straight? Within that, there’s a cockeyed scheme by the adorable rapscallion slave Pseudolus to win his freedom by hooking up his smitten teenaged master Hero with the foxy virgin courtesan next door, a charmer by the name of Philia.

Leading the audience through the various ridiculous plots and schemes is Pseudolus, who seems to have a pretty sweet gig lined up considering he is able to spend most of his time getting up to no good. Cory Doran’s Pseudolus is charismatic and warm with a voice to match, but what he lacks is connection with many of the other performers on stage. Director Graham Maxwell’s choice to have him and most of the actors play the majority of the dialogue directly to the audience makes for an embarrassing amount of elbow-nudging against the fourth wall.

The best sequences come when Maxwell slows down some of the non-stop prat-falling/dashing about the stage. Certain numbers, like “Lovely,” between Hero and Philia are completely charming in their restrained silliness; relying on a few awkward leg movements to bring in the laughs. That being said, there was real chemistry between Hero (Robert Rainville) and Philia (Megan Nuttall). Their matched ingenuousness added a thread of candor within the manic wheeling about of some of the other scenes.

On that note, the houses on wheels got a little tiresome and didn’t really provide the sense of mobility that seemed to be the intention. Maxwell’s set, although eye-catching, had very little sense of the Greco-Roman, and began to feel rather claustrophobic by the middle of the first act. Because the houses surrounded a smaller opening downstage-centre, Maxwell’s design effectively hemmed in all the action, cramming the ensemble into what felt like a space that would be a tight squeeze even for a SmartCar. And that reminds me—what was with the Trojan product placement? It’s one thing to give a half-page programme ad to a sponsor, but to actually incorporate a brazenly modernday banner into the pseudo-ancient action, that’s just discouraging! Also conspicuously out of place were placards with Arabic numerals. In ancient Rome didn’t they use, ah, Roman numerals?

Acknowledgement must be accorded to the ladies—and gentleman— who made up the company of courtesans. In a way, they’re the ones with the most thankless roles (and the least clothing), but they bring a definite sexiness to the staid suggestiveness of the book. The same praise is due to Matt Selby’s Miles Gloriosus, a swaggering general more taken with himself than anyone else.

In spite of the cheesy songs and vaguely uninteresting storyline, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is still a good time, if only because—to paraphrase a line from one of the numbers—the cast and general atmosphere are positively winsome.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum runs until September 29th.