Imagine a troubled couple taking the advice of a wacky marriage councillor and returning to a place where they were once young and happy – in order to reconnect.
Norman and Ruth borrow her brother’s wreck of a camper and head to a campground to visit their old friend Frank, who used to drink and philosophize with them around the fire. Due to a late start, they arrive, set up and find a mess.
The next morning, though, is worse. Naked people are wandering around. Two of them are Frank’s daughters, whom Norman used to tease and give piggyback rides.
Frank, after wrapping a tarp around his waist, explains that five years earlier he converted the camp into an alternative lifestyle operations, lost all of his remaining old customers and found a whole new group of camping enthusiasts.
Ruth and Norman are appalled, but the breakdown of the camper forces them to stay.
While the premise is amusing, Bare Bear Bones is hilarious. Former campers in the audience nod in recognition as a frustrated Norman reaches for an early morning beer.
Every cliche camper anyone has ever come across comes stumbling through their camp. Brian Otto, as Norman, is terrific as he smashes his head under the camper. Ruth does a great job at being shocked at the nudity.
But it is Lenny with whom everyone can identify because Lennys of this world have been amusing and annoying campers for generations. He is the quintessential party dude, and Brandon Maxwell brings out the zany in him. The only question is what he will do next.
Playwright Michael Grant is a member of the Elmira Theatre Company Inc., and the troupe continues to push boundaries by producing its own works. Grant has a great sense of character and the ridiculous, and there are several traces of Norm Foster at his best in Grant’s writing.
He is particularly interesting when a group, clad in towels out of respect for Ruth’s sensibilities, debate the world’s problems and their own marriage woes while drinking beer around the campfire.
Hey, everyone who ever camped has done one or the other, or both.
The cast, as is usual in community theatre, sketchy in some places, but generally very good. Veteran director Deb Deckert has them working well together and there are some truly hilarious moments, as well as a constant stream of titters as people in the audience recognize their own experiences in the great outdoors.
Phil Dietrich’s set design was truly terrific.
The show continues Feb. 16 to 19, with the first three shows at 8pm and a 2:30pm matinee.
This show is recommended as a great theatre experience.
