Shipwrecked! An Entertainment
Shipwrecked! An Entertainment
The Amazing Adventures of Louise De Rougemont (As told by Himself)
By Donald Margulies
Directed by Rob Anderson
Starring Eric Pinder
Mad Cow Theatre, Orlando FL</strong>
Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story, and never leave a paper trail when you come across a great yarn. Adventurer Louis De Rougemont (Pinder) remembers the first and forgets the second as he relates his wild adventures. He’s assisted by Trennel Mooring and Eric Fagan and a collection of Victorian visual aids. Raised as a sickly child, Roguemont escapes mother at age 16 and takes to the sea to dive for pearls in the South pacific. Shipwrecked and adrift, he and faithful dog Bruno (Fagan) find an island and live for several years à la Robinson Crusoe. It’s a lonely life, but he learns how to ride a sea turtle and steer it by poking it in the eye. After a few years a canoe drifts by and he rescues the half dead occupants. In the canoe he finds young Yambo (Trennel), they fall in love and have two children. Later he becomes a big shot on their home island because of his stilt walking skills, and he eventually crosses the Australian Outback and returns to London only achieve fame, fortune and opprobrium.
This is a technically challenging show for Pinder, but he’s up to the task. While technically not a “one man show” Pinder does all the heavy digging, raises the structural framework, and completes the finish carpentry. Mooring and Fagan are funny and skilled, but they get to run back stage to change costumes, set props and take a swig of water as Mr. Pinder sweats away under the tropical lighting. While not as fall down laughing funny as some recent productions Pinder has starred in, here he mixes a more gentle humor with his acting skills and paints a man with a knack for exposition and pathos. The result truly IS an entertainment, and far more fulfilling than one of those truth-filled documentaries on cable TV.
For more information on Mad Cow, please visit http://www.madcowtheatre.com
