The Foreigner Essay | Critical Essay #1

The Foreigner Critical Essay #1

Nienhuis is a Ph.D. specializing in modern and contemporary drama. In this essay he discusses the levels of comedic skill that Shue displays in The Foreigner.

There is no question that Larry Shue was capable of making audiences laugh. Fellow playwright and actor Amlin Gray reported in A Book of Tributes that "one night in 1981, during the paper bag scene [in The Nerd], a man in the audience fell out of his seat, holding his sides against the laughter that he couldn't stop, and rolled down three steps before he could recover." Richard O'Donnell, a regional actor who had performed in both The Nerd and The Foreigner, reported in A Book of Tributes that "the people who came to see The Nerd laughed so hard that at times we [the actors on stage] broke the fourth wall and laughed out loud with them." Even in Berlin, Germany,...
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