The Smell of the Kill - Live Sitcom?

Deone Jennings, Sydney Winbush, and Myhraliza AalaPhoto by by Alicia Turvin

By Tina Arth

Michele Lowe’s The Smell of the Kill, which premiered in 1999, is a tightly written, funny show, but in many ways it is an extended 20^th century sitcom. It’s hard to imagine that even two decades ago the play wasn’t seriously dated – in fact, there are a couple of scenes where it’s way too easy to imagine that Lucy and Ethyl have teamed up with Peg Bundy to put some serious hurt on Ricky, Fred and Al. Luckily for the audience, Twilight Theater Company director Jeannie Rogers found skilled comediennes who can deliver the kind of fast-paced verbal and visual gags typical of the genre, so the evening draws a satisfying number of laughs.

The story is predictably implausible – three college pals (Danny, Jay and Marty) and their wives (Molly, Nicky and Debra) get together for dinner once a month, so that the (unseen, but not unheard) men can behave like idiots offstage playing golf in the living room, torturing the cat, and harassing their wives with pre-Mad Men level chauvinism and immaturity. This month they are at Nicky’s upscale home in elegant Wilmette, Illinois, where all is not well – Jay has been indicted for a $7,000,000 fraud, Marty is playing grabass with every woman in sight except his wife Debra, and Danny is smothering Molly with his over-the-top, obsessive adoration. While the men throw a toddler-level tantrum demanding dessert, the women crack wise and fume; when the men accidentally (?) get stuck in the basement meat locker, the women contemplate how long it takes to freeze a husband.

Deone Jennings is quite wonderful as the crisp, cynical, casually murderous Nicky – her timing and delivery milk each line for maximum comic potential. Sydney Winbush provides a lovely contrast, playing the stunningly ditzy Molly whose biological clock is running several years too fast. These two comic powerhouses get the best material (and underwear – there is no nudity, but blouses are shed with abandon), leaving the role of dowdy, loyal Debra the doormat to Myhraliza Aala. Aala is touchingly out of touch, arguing passionately for spousal loyalty before she reveals that Marty has betrayed her more even completely than Jay betrayed his erstwhile employer.

The director and production team made a few odd choices in designing The Smell of the Kill that left me scratching my head. The entire show takes place in the kitchen of a home allegedly worth over a million dollars, but nothing in the set speaks to that level of elegance, and the solid door between the kitchen and the (unseen) living room left me unsure about whether the men were inside or out for most of Act I. During the actual play, I suspect that the audience is never supposed to see the men, yet we caught sight of Jay for a brief moment. There are three men listed in the program, but one (Jason Santos) did not come out for the bows – was he even there? When Debra is tied up and gagged, the towel is shoved in her mouth but not tied around her head – why doesn’t she just spit it out? These are all small points, but taken together they showed what, to me, felt like a lack of attention to detail.

That said, The Smell of the Kill is still a damned funny show, thanks to the three women who do pay close attention to every aspect of their roles. The show offers no great political or psychological insights, but plenty of diversion, and is well worth a trip to North Portland and an evening of your life.

Twilight Theater Company’s The Smell of the Kill is playing at the Performing Arts Theater, 7515 N. Brandon Avenue, Portland through September 22, with performances at 8 P.M. on Friday–Saturday, and 3:00 PM on Sunday.  There is also an 8:00 PM performance on Thursday, September 19.