
Pictured: Dori Legg and Ryan Colwell in a scene from The Short Fall (photo © Teresa Olson)
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
nytheatre.com review
Leslie Bramm · June 3, 2011
Pictured: Dori Legg and Ryan Colwell in a scene from The Short Fall (photo © Teresa Olson)
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.