Steadstyle Chicago
	February 2010 Theatre Review by Joe Stead
	It Could Be Any One of Us In "It Could Be Any One of Us," one of the characters challenges another to come up with something original and imaginative.  This play is Alan Ayckbourn's attempt to do just that, to find a clever way of reworking the tired murder mystery genre.  Unfortunately there is little that is new, inventive or remotely entertaining about this lackadaisical and generally inept work.  I'm not sure even the most perfect production could make this turkey fly, and it's a far from perfect production it is getting at the Steel Beam Theatre in suburban St. Charles.  To be fair, this was my first visit to Steel Beam and I have nothing else to compare this with, so I can only hope that the production is not representative of this group's work as a whole.  From everything I can see, this is a company that favors diverse and challenging fare, so I am hopeful this production is the exception rather than the rule. The name Alan Ayckbourn typically suggests comedies and farce, usually with some clever little gimmick, stylish or visual ploy to make them unique.  The twist here is that the audience gets to vote on both the victim and the murderer, ala "Shear Madness," "You the Jury" and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood".  Shortly into this misguided mishmash of mayhem I lost interest in whodunnit.  When the story fails to make an audience care what is happening that's a serious shortcoming for a mystery.  A couple of the actors do the best they can with the material they are working with.  One or two should never have been permitted any closer to the stage than the second row of the audience. Ayckbourn introduces us to a bickering clan of artistic types fighting for control of the family estate "somewhere in England".  The property has been deeded to the eldest heir Mortimer Chalke, a mean tempered musician and composer whose large body of work no one is playing.  His sister Jocelyn wrote detective novels but is now suffering writers block.  Brother Brinton is a painter who may be a few cards short of a full playing deck.  Jocelyn's spoiled and rebellious teenaged daughter Amy is a disagreeable little glutton who has been lavished with everything her little heart could want and is malcontent.  Jocelyn's live-in friend and companion Norris Honeywell is the one member of this little "artistic colony" with absolutely no creative interests.  As a former claims assessor, Norris is also an amateur sleuth who would give anything for a nice juicy murder to investigate. So who will drop first, and why?  There is animosity between Mortimer and Norris and none of the characters seems to be living up to their potentials.  Brinton works in a leaky studio and is never given any money to make the necessary living repairs.  Jocelyn has enrolled Amy in a series of drama and dance classes to help her find her niche, only to find that she has been slogging them off and spending frivolous hours gorging herself on food.  Someone has also been stealing money from Mortimer's desk drawer.  Mortimer harbors such contempt for his fellow "second rate failures" that he has left them all out of his own will, deeding the family mansion and all its assets to a young student.  It's his "life insurance policy" as he says in case any one of them might decide to bump him off, they'll be left with nothing.  The would-be inheritor, Wendy Windwood arrives to find this "warm and happy" household all conspiring to do her in.  The brakes on the car have been tampered with, a bedroom bureau comes crashing down on her, and her champagne glass has been spiked with bleach.  "Accidents do happen," she is told.  It's no one's fault, or is it? Ayckbourn has created such a disagreeable band of loafers here that it's hard to get caught up in their indulgent little tantrums and rivalries.  Of the cast members, Steve Connell brings a real theatrical flair to Mortimer, with Marge Uhlarik-Boller and Dennis Edwards turning in decent work as Jocelyn and Brinton, respectively.  Amanda Zaeske's garbled diction and broad overacting do nothing to help the rebellious Amy, and Brad Davidson is downright annoying as Norris.  I love a good mystery as much as anyone, but I'm afraid "It Could Be Any One of Us" fails to fill the bill.  It plays through March 28, 2010 at Steel Beam Theatre, located at 111 West Main Street in St. Charles.  Tickets are $25 for adults, $23 for Seniors/Students, and $22 for Groups 10 or more.  Call 630-587-8521 or visit www.steelbeamtheatre.com.   About Joe Stead Joe Stead has enjoyed a lifelong passion for the theatre, which has involved acting, directing, producing, designing and reviewing for the past twenty-five years.  He served as founder, producer and Artistic Director of Curtain Up Productions in Baltimore, Maryland and Four Star Players in Tampa, Florida.  Favorite productions have included "Life With Father," "Deathtrap," "The Odd Couple," "The Miracle Worker," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and "Godspell".  He has also performed leading roles in "Fiddler on the Roof," "Pippin," "The Phantom of the Opera," "The Front Page," and most recently as Hucklebee in "The Fantasticks" for Waukegan Community Players.  Joe holds a degree in Commercial Art from Tampa Technical Institute.  As a critic, he has reviewed everything from Broadway to community theatre and major regional theatres throughout the United States including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, and the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.  Since 1998, he has been a proud resident of Chicago, the greatest theatre city in America.  He served for two years as Theatre Editor for College News and Central Newspapers.  He created the website Steadstyle Chicago in 2000 to showcase the city's outstanding and diverse theatre scene.  Joe was proud to serve alongside a distinguished panel of theatre professionals as a judge for two seasons of Speaking Ring Theatre's "Vitality" Festival of original short plays.  His most fulfilling role, in addition to reviewer and all-around theatre fanatic, was as director of the 2007 production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus" at Actors Workshop (now Redtwist) Theatre, which was nominated for five Joseph Jefferson Award Citations and won for Best Actor (Peter Oyloe).