The Cottage

The Cottage

Sandy Rustin

Palo Alto Players

Plop into a cocktail shaker a bit of Vaudeville, a few Carol Burnett/Lucille Ball antics, a “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” pop-up, and a “Saturday Night Live” over-the-top skit; and then add for good measure a touch of Mel Brooks’ no-holds-barred, bodily-function humor.  Shake together these across-the-decades masters of farce and fun; and pour them into a 1923, English countryside, getaway dwelling where Noel Coward would feel quite at home to place his satire-laced jabs at the wealthy’s eccentricities, his rapid-fire repartee full of lyrical rhythm, and his devilish exploring of non-traditional relationships.  The result is just a taste of the fast and furious concoction of surprise and slapstick that makes Palo Alto Players’ Bay Area premiere of Sandy Rustin’s The Cottage a summer-time, must-see rom-com of non-stop laughs.

Please continue to Talkin’Broadway for the rest of my review.

Rating: 5 E, MUST-SEE

A Theatre Eddys Best Bet Production

The Cottage continues through June 28, 2026, in in a two-hour, five-minute (with one intermission) Bay Area premiere production by Palo Alto Players at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA.  Tickets are available online at www.paplayers.org or by calling the Box Office at 650-329-0891.

 

Photo Credit: Scott Lasky