Customer Reviews

The Foreigner

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I actually was able to preform in this play as the foreigner himself, and it was awesome to be able to be in such a outstanding play. It has stereotypical southern folk, an overly eager British guy, and a pathologically shy guy who is having marital problems. This is honestly one of the few plays I have read that made me laugh out loud. I totally recommend it to anyone.

I've just come back from seeing this play. I write plays and although I try not to watch a play with a playwright's eye, I can't help it. This play on all levels reached the very top! For me as an audience it was pure joy, for me as a writer it was pure joy wrapped in respect. Larry Shue is someone I'm going to find out more about. I'm sad to hear that he is no longer with us. The mixture of humanity and humor in this play is something that is not seen often. Larry Shue, thank you!
Caroline

No one matches the comic wit of Larry Shue. Being an actor himself, his characters are gifts to the actors that play them. Each role is well-honed and a joy to perform. This is truly one of the great American comedies. It's a tragedy that Shue died so young and left us precious few plays. But what wonderful plays they are!

Having taken part in a performance of "The Foreigner" over ten years ago, I was anxious to take a trip down memory lane. After reading the play today, I am reminded what a precise and humorous tale this is. Despite remaining relatively obscure, it is one of my favorites. Larry Shue's attention to detail and sharp wit make this play a laugh a minute and thought provoking.

Charlie accompanies Froggy to Georgia on military business as Charlie's wife's health declines. Feeling his marriage is failing, Charlie becomes very asocial. To maintain his silence, Charlie adopts the persona of a foreigner with no English speaking skills. In the lodge he takes up residence, the lodge's keeper Betty is about to loose the property to a conspiracy of Owen and a resident of the lodge and preacher David. As a member of the Ku Klux Klan, Owen's feelings of hatred rise when he feels Charlie mocks him. This causes Owen as well as David, whose membership in the Klan is not known, to attempt to exact revenge. When their violent scare tactics fall apart, so does the conspiracy of David and Owen. Additionally, the corrupt preacher David's image is soiled as his true intentions are revealed toward his fiance and her wealth.

It is a misfortune that this show is hard to find on the stage. Were it more well known, I am sure it would achieve much deserved recognition. If you are unable to see the show, reading it is the next best thing.

I saw THE FOREIGNER in two different productions, and they were two of the most enjoyable evenings I have spent in the theater yet. We also studied the play in a university English course, which really made me appreciate Larry Shue's skill and subtlety as a playwright. Charley Baker is a shy Englishman traveling in rural Georgia with his friend, "Froggy" Le Seur, a member of the British army. The two men visit an inn run by Froggy's old friend, Betty Meeks. Charley is in the midst of marital problems, so Froggy decides to leave him at the inn for a few days so that he can enjoy some peace and quiet. But Charley is terrified of having to make any conversation at all with the inhabitants of the inn, who besides the gregarious Betty include a (crooked) Reverend and his (pregnant) fiancée, Catherine, and her slow-witted little brother, Ellard.
So Froggy has an idea: he will tell Betty that Charley is a foreigner and speaks no English. This gives Charley the peace he wants, as well as providing excitement for the others, who have never seen a "real live foreigner" before. It also leads to many hilarious situations - and eventually to a run-in with the loathsome Owen Musser and his Ku Klux Klan boys. But Charley, through sheer cleverness and courage, defeats the Klan and all ends happily.
THE FOREIGNER is a one-of-a-kind play. It deals with serious problems, like racism and the Klan, by looking them in the face and laughing at them. Shue is not at all afraid of humor. He is also not afraid of villains, of whom this play has two: Owen and the Reverend, David Marshall Lee. Too often modern playwrights simply make a villain of "society" or some other institution. It is a harder job to create convincing individuals who are evil - but Shue does this marvelously. He is also an intelligent playwright: he includes in this modern comedy such classical character types as the "tricky servant" (Froggy), a "humour character" or a character with an obsession (Charley) - and, of course, the villains, who are so well-drawn that they seem like real people rather than like mere mouthpieces for the Klan. Shue had extraordinary talent, and I would like to thank him for leaving us THE FOREIGNER, a comedy good for all time.

I was graced with being cast as Ellard Sims in a College Production of The Foreigner. This in one of those Comedies that
is a Dramatic Roller Coaster and the audience is along for the ride. Physical, emotional and vocal throughout.
Sound exciting? Gok. Means yes.
After your first read through, you'll fall in love with the wonderful fictional town of Georgia and it's inhabitants.
If you go full force into it like I did, the only problem is you'll never want to leave.

I had the sheer joy of playing Charlie several years ago and I hope some day I can do it again. It is funny and thought provoking at the same time. When I first read it I couldn't stop laughing and I wondered how we would get through it as actors without cracking up.

Everyone should read it and try to see it if it is playing at a theatre near you.

This is about the funniest play I ever read. Have never seen it staged either. But it is typical of modern plays in having only seven characters, all of whom have meaty roles. Needs thick Southern accents and one cultured British and one Cockney accent. Five men and two women.

So much can be said about this light-hearted play that it's hard to pick where to start (and what to leave out)...

Larry Shue really set up a diverse and side-splitting play. First of all, it incorporates many accents and notions as cultures collide in the Deep South. One character even makes up his own dialect and tells an entire story in it (it's a lot funnier than it sounds trust me)! The plot also drives off of a cleverly set up situation of mistaken identity.

Somehow Shue created a hilarious, yet somehow realistic cast of characters. He followed this up by setting up an absurd plot that flows naturally and is exciting to read. Great character + great plot = what can go wrong?

I loved this play so much that I went to see it live at a somewhat small theatre. Literally everyone in the audience was laughing hysterically throughout the performance and they all stayed after for about an hour to learn more about the play and Larry Shue. The great thing is that this play is funny without being crude, which shows real comedic talent (and seems to be a rare find these days).

Reading a play doesn't take that long at all! If you are a theatre geek, or someone that is just starting to read plays this one will be a great choice for you. It's diverse, funny, witty and masterfully set-up. I strongly recommend it.

I recently played the character Owen in this play, and it was a blast. Not playing Owen, but the play itself. Owen's a jerk. It was a relief getting him out of my head at the end of the production.

The script doesn't give a lot of stage direction, which is great. It leaves you open to do some actual acting, and that's kind of the point of it, right? To dig in and find what the characters do. And the as-imagined set layout at the back of the book would have been pretty helpful if we didn't already have a set layout in mind.

The form factor for the script itself is, in my opinion, a little wanting. I know it's a petty thing but it'd be nice if the publishers made the script just a little bigger so there was room for blocking notes alongside the dialogue. It's not a big thing, but it's a thing.

The play itself is a lot of fun. Some of the topic matter can strike a little close to the bone if you're in a racially tense region. But that doesn't make it less relevant; if anything that makes a story like this even more appropriate.