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| | village voice > theater > by Francine Russo |
 | | Well, maybe that was true at the play's 1965 debut, but at a recent Saturday matinee not far from the millennium, a blue-haired matron chirpily pronounced it "cute." Ah, what a way we've come since we could be disturbed by a satire of Christian piety, familial devotion, and a benevolent government. |
 | | Now we smile at the story of a good man trying with dignity to bury his wife—murdered by a seducer—serial poisoner nurse—while his reprobate son and the undertaker (the son's male lover) hide their loot from a bank heist in her coffin and a corrupt detective sniffs out both blood and money. |
 | | Tracey Atkins, as the nurse, tosses one with blasé and deadly aim when she suggests adorning the dead wife's coffin with the Ten Commandments: "She was a great believer in...some of them." But overall, Orton invites a more knowing and over-the-top interpretation. |
| www.villagevoice.com /theater/9853,russo,3198,11.html (274 words) |
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