'The Cottage': Fun, lowbrow nod to Noël Coward

‘THE COTTAGE’: Laura Bell Bundy. Photo: Joan Marcus.

THE COTTAGE
Written by Sandy Rustin
Directed by Jason Alexander
Through October 29, 2023
The Helen Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), www.TheCottageOnBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Sandy Rustin’s The Cottage is about as close to a Noël Coward drawing-room comedy of the 1930s as one is going to get. It’s not meant as high art. As matter of fact, it is more lowbrow— simple fare to entertain us during these stifling summer doldrums.

The plot is not so much as being complicated as it is being twisted. The play opens with Sylvia (Laura Bell Bundy) awaiting her lover Beau (Eric McCormack) and descent from his morning ablutions. Sylvia has sent telegrams to Clarke (Alex Moffat) her husband, who also happens to be Beau’s brother, and Marjorie (Lilli Cooper) who happens to be Beau’s wife, informing them that that that they are madly in love with each other and expect to divorce each other’s spouses respectively, only to find out that Clark and Marjorie are also having an affair with each other. All this is taking place in the cottage, replete with very thick English accents.

Along the way comes Dierdre (Dana Steingold). She is having extramarital affairs with Beau and this torpedoes Sylvia. Dierdre’s husband, Richard (Nehal Joshi) is not far behind; he arrives wanting to murder Beau for stealing his wife. Upon arrival, Richard is let in to the cottage by Sylvia only to find out they were long-lost lovers ages ago.

Of course, the whole premise is preposterous, taking a cue from Noël Coward‘s Private Lives where spouses divorce, marry new people, only to find out that both couples are honeymooning in the same place.

The fun is also derived from the broad strokes of acting from Eric McCormack, playing the handsome and dashing bounder, Laura Bell Bundy as the tantalizing temptress, Alex Moffat a masterful comic and alumni from “Saturday Night Live” as the hapless husband, and Lilli Cooper delightful as ever as the pregnant wife. They are deftly directed by Jason Alexander at a breakneck pace with wonderful sight gags, and plenty of cigarettes.

It’s almost impossible to find a comedy on Broadway these days, and Neil Simon revivals are too dated to be enjoyable now, so accept this little nugget in good faith and enjoy it for all the absurdities it serves and the actors doing their best to make this unbearable summer more enjoyable.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published July 28, 2023
Reviewed at July 27, 2023 press performance.