Lawson Taitte

ADDISON – The Foreigner sets the art of writing plays back 200 years. In the right mood, though, you might find it entertaining – especially in the nifty production at WaterTower Theatre.

AMY CONN-GUTIERREZ/Special Contributor

Lincoln Thompson (left) and David Stroh share one of many absurdly winning moments in The Foreigner at WaterTower Theatre.

Playwright Larry Shue followed up the success of his previous hit, The Nerd, with this second farce. Both have been staples of regional and community theaters since the 1980s, and The Foreigner even had a Broadway revival last season.Modern farces tend to be plot-driven machines in which every entrance and exit is timed to the millisecond. The Foreigner reverts to an earlier model put together much more loosely. It's more like a 19th-century melodrama with a comic protagonist than an actual farce.

The basic premise is silly enough: Froggy, an English soldier (R Bruce Elliott), brings another Brit, Charlie (David Stroh), to a rural lodge in Georgia for a quick vacation, but Charlie is so shy and depressed, he doesn't want to talk to anybody. So Froggy dreams up the story that Charlie is a foreigner who doesn't speak a word of English. That leaves the lodge proprietor (Deborah Brown) and other guests free to speak their minds in front of him – and several of them have secrets that could prove dangerous.

Soon near-random silliness takes over. The fun is in watching Mr. Stroh, now based in New York after years on the Dallas stage, get into the spirit of his assumed identity. His shenanigans are half Charlie Chaplin, half Bronson Pinchot's Balki on TV's Perfect Strangers.

With the none-too-bright Ellard (Lincoln Thompson), Charlie does monkey-see, monkey-do imitations. With the evil redneck Owen (Russell DeGrazier), he pretends he's some sort of scary vampire. With the former debutante Catherine (Lynn Blackburn), he listens so intently the shadow of a flirtation appears.

Mr. Stroh manages not to go over the top with the broad comedy, and the rest of director James Paul Lemons' cast exhibits similar good taste. As the suspiciously suave minister, David, for instance, Derik Webb doesn't overplay the smarminess. Ms. Blackburn exudes charm in a role that can easily turn sour, and Mr. Thompson preserves the dignity of a character who could be mocked. Mr. DeGrazier looks to become Dallas' new heavy villain of choice, but even he keeps nastiness within moderate bounds.

WaterTower's production, reviewed Sunday, looks handsome enough to serve as additional inducement to lower one's literary standards and laugh again at The Foreigner.

PLAN YOUR LIFE Through Feb. 10 at WaterTower Theatre, Addison. Runs 150 mins. $20 to $30. 972-450-6232; www.watertowertheatre.org.

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