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A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE
Full-Length Play, Comedy / 2w, 5m plus ensemble
Larry Shue
Trying to forget his marital problems, dull and doleful Charlie Baker takes a fishing lodge holiday in the Deep South of America, and to avoid being pestered by the locals pretends that he is a foreigner who speaks no English.
Winner! 1985 Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding New American Play and Outstanding Off-Broadway ProductionWinner! Two 1985 Obie Awards
The scene is a fishing lodge in rural Georgia often visited by “Froggy” LeSueur, a British demolition expert who occasionally runs training sessions at a nearby army base. This time “Froggy” has brought along a friend, a pathologically shy young man named Charlie who is overcome with fear at the thought of making conversation with strangers. So “Froggy”, before departing, tells all assembled that Charlie is from an exotic foreign country and speaks no English.
Once alone the fun really begins, as Charlie overhears more than he should – the evil plans of a sinister, two-faced minister and his redneck associate; the fact that the minister’s pretty fiancée is pregnant; and many other damaging revelations made with the thought that Charlie doesn’t understand a word being said. Riotously funny, The Foreigner reminds us you should always be aware of who might hear you.
The Foreigner was presented off-Broadway at the Astor Place Theatre in New York City, on 1 November 1984. It was directed by Jerry Zaks and its author Larry Shue played “Froggy” LeSueur. It was originally produced by the Milwaukee Repertory Theater on 13 January 1983.
CHARLIE BAKER – A timid proofreader for a science fiction magazine with a merrily adulterous wife who disdains him, yet whom he misses.“FROGGY” LESUEUR – A cheerful British Army man.BETTY MEEKS – A good-natured elderly widow who owns a resort lodge and mothers her guests.CATHERINE SIMMS – A pretty heiress going through an emotional time, who looks after Ellard.ELLARD SIMMS – Catherine’s dim-witted brother, heir to half the family fortune.REV. DAVID MARSHALL LEE – A polite, good-looking white Christian man, engaged to Catherine.OWEN MUSSER – A superstitious, dangerous white supremacist who lives in town.TOWNSPEOPLE
A fishing lodge parlour in rural Georgia. 1980s.
“I laughed start to finish at one comic surprise after another.” – The New Yorker
“A constant invitation to relax and laugh at the foolishness of life.” – Village Voice
“Shue’s comedy is positively antic, yet pleasantly seasoned with a few dashes of sentimentality… He has raided comedy’s storehouse.” – Bergen Record
The Foreigner – Kansas City Repertory Theatre Preview