David Caudle, Playwright

The Short Fall

SYNOPSIS:
Tabby and Lloyd Fodder are a middle-class couple sustaining a middling existence in a mid-sized town in South Carolina. The discovery of Lloyd's petty embezzlement scheme by his Machiavellian assistant assures his impending fall from grace. Tabby is less horrified by the cause, than by the lack of vertical distance they are doomed to plummet. With the wisdom of the supermarket tabloids at her command, she plots to raise her family to a more respectable height from which to take that dive.

Characters: (3M, 3F)

TABBY FODDER, Early 40s. A 21st Century American Housewife.

LLOYD FODDER, Mid-40s. Tabby's middle-management husband.

LOUVRE, (ages from 15-18) Daughter of Tabby and Lloyd.

LANCE, Mid-30s. Lloyd's administrative assistant.

ACTOR 1 (Multiple Female Roles)
Waitress/Administrative Assistant
Poise Instructor
Old Woman
Mrs. Atwater
Commentator 1
Camerawoman

ACTOR 2 (Multiple Male Roles)
Newspaper Boy
CEO
Gushing Employee
Commentator 2
Reporter

Lark Playwrights Week Finalist.

THE SHORT FALL premiered in Spring/Summer 2011, produced by the Toy Box Theatre Company, directed by David Michael Holmes.

With Ron Bopst, Ryan Colwell, Kally Duling, Dori Legg, Ryan Reilly and Karen Stanion.

Original music by Colonna Sonora

The Short Fall

nytheatre.com review archive

nytheatre.com review
Leslie Bramm · June 3, 2011

Dori Legg and Ryan Colwell in a scene from <em>The Short Fall</em>

The Short Fall centers around the Fodder family: the ambitious mother Tabby, husband Lloyd, their daughter Louvre, and the memory of their dead son Buckingham. Lloyd has been embezzling money from the chain department store where he holds a low level position. His supervisor Lance knows what he’s up to and is set to blackmail him. That’s when Tabby devises her plan. I don’t want to give anything away, but suffice it to say, Tabby takes her family on an adventure that deepens with conflict at every turn.

The Short Fall by David Caudle is a nice compact farce on a subject that seems indicative of our current culture. We love to lift our pop icons up as high as we can, so that when we cut them back down to size, the fall is long, hard, and entertaining. The play opens with Tabby pitching her story to a reality TV show called “Betrayal, blackmail, politics, intrigue, and murder.” The personals of a family exposed, for all to see. Now that’s great television. It is this medium and mentality that Caudle goes after.

Caudle’s writing is very funny and he uses his wit and wisdom to toss his darts. All hit their mark. He presents his protagonist with a choice. To have the life, and love of her husband and daughter. The chance to go back and mend things. To begin anew. Caudle uses the humor to illustrate his final point, a little taste of fame is worse than no fame at all. In the end Tabby is near hysterical as her celebrity slips her grasp.

david@davidcaudle.org