‘Unnecessary Farce’ delectably diverting
The Belle Theatre rings in the new year with a farce that’s actually funny, namely Paul Slade Smith’s Unnecessary Farce. Smith’s clever and droll script contains all the attributes of traditional farce – cringe-causing absurdly awkward situations (think Everyone Loves Raymond), small 
misunderstandings that cascade into full-blown confusion and chaos, overlapping dialogue, sexual innuendo, plot twists and turns and, of course, slamming doors … oh so many slamming doors. With ingredients like these, it’s no wonder the play has been produced more than 325 times across the United States, and around the world.
The action takes place in adjoining bedrooms in a low rent motel. In one, two detectives, Eric and Billie, are setting up a sting operation intended to videotape the mayor accepting a bribe. Newbies, the policeman and policewoman handling the sting are Keystone Cop bumblers. In addition, Eric has the hots for the set-up woman, an accountant by the name of Karen Brown. So the operation predictably goes hilariously South Pole. Besides the mayor, his security guard, the mayor’s wife and a Scottish assassin with a thick Highland brogue that becomes even more unintelligible as he gets angrier and angrier help amp up the heat … which probably explains why the various characters spend copious amounts of time in various stages of disrobement.
If you are yearning to start off 2024 with something delectably silly, slightly raunchy and mindlessly diverting, then Unnecessary Farce is a necessary ingredient in your New Year’s resolution to laugh more and take life less seriously.
December 23, 2023.
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.