Theater reviews: Comfort theater with sex farce and sex therapy

Comfort theater seems a great way to warm up to spring. Cleveland Play House and Beck Center for the Arts are blooming with great offerings in this spirit. 'Noises Off' Every decade, there's a dependable revival of Michael Frayn's theatrical farce to end all farces, "Noises Off," and deservedly so. Here's the twist: Instead of the usual hapless ensemble of disparate buffoons who wade through truncated attempts for ill-begotten social, romantic and economic gain — winding up with a lot of bedroom door-slamming and various stages of undress — here we have a hapless ensemble of disparate buffoon actors who wind up mirroring the characters they portray. Three acts follow a play-within-a-play — "Nothing On," a multiple-entendre if there ever was one — in various stages of undress and redress by an exasperated director, brilliantly portrayed by Stephen Mitchell Brown. Act one is a last-ditch dress/tech rehearsal where we learn of backstage romances, tiffs and degrees of senility and sanity. Things are not too promising for the hapless British theater company. That is, except for promising comedic potential, and that potential is realized surely enough in the second act, where the English country estate set is literally turned around, and the farce plays out as the doors slam and open upon the actor's exit into the chaotic backstage abyss. Just as the audience thinks things couldn't get any worse — or funnier — act three devolves into a theatrical Armageddon of hilarity. The Beck Center cast, under the assiduous direction of real director Scott Spence, excels in timing as well as convincing British accents. If nothing else, the physical production reflects the technical proficiency of Cheri Prough-DeVol (sets), Kevin Duchon (lights) and Carlton Guc (sound). Perhaps an authentic British production might have rung a few extra laughs, but it's hard to fault such an amazing comedic triumph from a local company. 'Becoming Dr. Ruth' A thrust stage (open to the audience on three sides) bedecked with sculptural piles of white boxes of various sizes, some adrift in midair, would hint at a rather surrealistic evening with the unlikely sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer. But like the media sensation herself, "Becoming Dr. Ruth," the decade-old off-Broadway hit by Mark St. Germain, is a surprisingly pedestrian, accessible evening with a convivial grandmother — who happens to be a Holocaust survivor, transported orphan not unlike "Annie," a sniper for the Israeli underground, a thrice-married swinger, a bestselling author and media personality primarily of the 1980s and '90s. Naomi Jacobson convincingly embodies the larger-than-life pocket-size celebrity, embracing her character's humanity while hinting at why Dr. Ruth (originally named Karola Ruth Siegel) became so accomplished. It's cannily done as she recounts her life with anecdotes and schmoozing while negotiating moving out of her long-lived Manhattan apartment she shared with her late third husband. Chapters in her life are marked with doll-house-styled renderings of residences she encountered through her life, revealed from various closed moving boxes. Jacobson and the production team have come to the Cleveland Play House Outcalt Theater in a near-complete package from Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater of the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center in Washington, D.C., noted in the Play House program simply as Theater J. Despite its "community center" pedigree, this production is a slick, top-notch theatrical treat that wins audiences as easily as its titular hostess. Contact Howard Gollop at howieeg@hotmail.com. IF YOU GO WHAT: "Becoming Dr. Ruth"WHEN: Through April 23 (times vary)WHERE: Outcalt Theater, Playhouse SquareTICKETS: $15 to $95INFO: (216) 241-6000 or ClevelandPlayhouse.com IF YOU GO WHAT: "Noises Off"WHEN: Through April 16 (times vary)WHERE: Senney Theater, Beck Center for the ArtsTICKETS: $12 to $38INFO: (216) 521-2540 or BeckCenter.org