Tea with Mint or Lemon?

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The theater department’s production of Tea with Mint or Lemon? is not only a masterpiece of French comedy and bedroom farce, it is also a production done entirely in French.

Directed by D. Terry Petrie and featuring a cast of talented actors and actresses, the show is sure to have audiences roaring with laughter.

The play is about a producer’s shy son, Julien, who has never acted before, and who makes life quite difficult for his more experienced co-lead Sophia. Clara, the director, does her best to avoid the onstage conflicts and coddles Julien.

Meanwhile, the rest of the cast interjects with their own wild ideas. Dominique, the butler, tries his hand at singing his lines, while Richard, the husband in the farce, messes with Julien during rehearsals.

As expected, opening night is a total fiasco. It begins with Dominique falling down – or something of the sort – thus forcing Clara to take his role as the butler. At this point, Sophia struggles with the cast change and unfortunately never recovers. Julien, throughout the whole show, is another story entirely.

Between slipping on the floor, hitting himself in the face with an armoire door, being electrocuted by a record player and drinking some terrible whiskey, he, above all, has the worst theater experience of all time. On top of that, none of the crew think very much of him and treat him as such. Richard comes in a close second when apparently he throws out his back, and consequently his performance thereafter crumbles as he can hardly even stand up.

This sort of thing happens to nearly every single character in the show, making for quite the hysterical performance. Set pieces fall apart on stage, chairs have no apparent seats, mustaches end up in odd places – all of this adds up to the end of the farce when everyone gives up from complete disaster. In short, this play is nothing short of a barrel of laughs. Don’t miss the chance to catch it in the Noorda Theater, playing until April 9.

Tea with Mint or Lemon? runs daily until April 9, excluding Sunday, from 7:30-10:00 p.m. in the Noorda Blackbox Theatre. Tickets are $7 with a UVID, $9-11 without.