Buntport Theater is a group of young theater artists who located to Denver after going to school together in Colorado Springs. The company has carved out a niche for itself locally with a clever brand of comedy and a reputation for prolific output since it moved into its current space in 2001.
And, as evidenced by last week’s opening, Buntport already is an important addition to the local theater scene, if for no other reason than its youngish audience, significant for an art form that tends to rely on an older crowd for its patronage. The opening night sell-out crowd for “McGuinn and Murry,” the company’s 13th original production, was made up largely of people in their 20s and early 30s, most of whom already were familiar with and sold on Buntport’s particular sense of humor.
In “McGuinn and Murry” that sense of humor is equal parts silly and clever. It adds up to an admirable production, but one that doesn’t leave a lasting impression.
The play is done in 1940s crime novel style, a la Raymond Chandler and his noirish stories. McGuinn (Brian Colonna) and Murry (Erin Rollman) are partners in their own detective firm. When they can’t drum up any business they resort to creating some of their own. Murry sends a playful note to McGuinn’s home, but Mrs. McGuinn intercepts it and suspects her husband is cheating on her. Mrs. McGuinn has a lover herself, but nonetheless, her suspicions drive her dramatic accusations, which set the quirky detectives into investigative mode.
While Rollman and Colonna star in “McGuinn and Murry,” the company’s five other members – Hannah Duggan, Erik Edborg, Matt Petraglia, SamAnTha Schmitz and Evan Weissman – also receive writing, design and directing credit.
There’s a vibrancy to the group’s effort, including the writing. The script is as smart as it is whimsical, a mix of postmodern irony and hard-boiled ’40s repartee. McGuinn longs to get “the dust of this dirty town off my feet,” but he’s also aware that his current investigation “folds in on itself in a self-reflective manner,” a wink to the audience that he’s aware of the show’s noirish conventions.
And the genius of the play is that the whole thing – the dialogue, the plot, the characters and even the set – keeps folding in on itself in a self-reflective manner. The main stage piece at first serves as the door and office table for the McGuinn and Murry agency, but the contraption, built with several hidden compartments and attachments, unfolds and refolds into the McGuinn’s kitchen, a nightclub, a park bench, an Italian restaurant, and a boxing ring.
Likewise, the actors play dual characters who are mirror reflections of each other – Murry and Mrs. McGuinn are dead ringers for each other, as are McGuinn and Pauly, Mrs. McGuinn’s lover. And the dialogue is sprinkled with funny little lines where the actors comment on what’s taking place with their characters or the story.
One of the best scenes comes when Colonna and Rollman maneuver the set piece into a cityscape that serves as a backdrop for a road trip. They move matchbox-sized cars along a dirt miniature dirt road that sprawls out before the city while playing seven characters who inhabit the cars.
Overall, Colonna and Rollman succeed at pulling off the era’s style, the sharp wise-guy tone done in that ’40s noirish mode. Both understand where the humor is in the script and play it with ease. And they don’t miss a beat as they work the set into its different configurations, no small feat.
Ultimately though, cleverness is all “McGuinn and Murry” has going for it. Great comedy sheds some light on the human condition, however whimsical. But this show’s creators are content to serve up whimsy and cleverness for their own sake. As a story, it’s too convoluted to make a deep impression, and while the show is good for a laugh, it’s neither a lasting nor a cathartic laugh. It’s like a meal that tastes good, but still leaves you hungry.
-Mark Collins, January 9, 2004, Boulder Daily Camera