Play does great 'Job' of
giving audience a good laugh

'God's Favorite' relies on wit, talented actors

BY ALICIA SPATES; H&R Staff Writer
November 5, 2006

DECATUR - Theatre 7's "God's Favorite" is one of those plays that keeps you in your seat.

The comedy taken from the Book of Job stirred up laughs from beginning to end Friday night at Decatur Civic Center Theatre.

A man's faith in God is tested when he loses everything because of a bet between God and Satan that modern Job, or Joe in the play, would renounce God.

Before words were said in the production, I was immediately drawn to the stage set. This is one of the best sets I've seen. The set was the main character's living room, which sported a balcony. The balcony showed a great backdrop of outside, with its trees blanketed with snow. It looked and felt believable as a chilly breeze kicked in with Act Two, and the effect of the white snow brightened up the set.

In the first scene of Act One, Laura Wilkerson and Ross Moyer, playing twins Sarah and Ben Benjamin, were hilarious and cute together as brother and sister, but as their parts got shorter throughout the play and more characters were revealed, other characters began to take more of a presence.

As some drunks are, Eli Davis - as the character David Benjamin, better known as the prodigal son - was comical as he often stumbled around to get another drink. He's one to watch for during this play as he often does things on the side.

Shawn. Becker, who played Sidney Lipton, is a master with accents and impersonations. I could pick out some of his imitations. Others sounded familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint the character. His imitations were great because you never knew what or when he was going to do them.

I also thought that his imitations are what saved the first act. The first act had so much guessing and then explaining that it began to fall a little for me, though obviously the fault of the playwright and not Theatre 7. Even certain jokes were overused in Act One, but Becker brought it back with his many voices. I believe he incorporated his talent into the production nicely.

Another talented accent was given by Isabel Dayson as the housekeeper Mady. Though I'm not too familiar with accents, I think she had a Southern accent, which she used for many of the quick one-liners she had in the play. She had a great delivery with the quips.

Andrew Curry, who played the lead, Joe Benjamin, stood out to me because of his temper. His character seemed so impatient and was quickly riled up throwing nothing short of a tantrum. The way he would react with his temper reminded me of Jackie Gleason as Ralph on the "Honeymooners" whenever he would get mad at Ed. I'm not sure if Curry was channeling Gleason during his role, but he was a riot to see on stage.

"God's Favorite" is full of quick quips, liquor and accents that are sure to leave its audience with a story that they would want to find out more about. Though the production was a modern version of the Book of Job in the Bible, it was an ideal way of telling the basis of the story that was both entertaining and informative.

Alicia Spates can be reached at aspates@herald-review.com or 421-6986.