Dipsy Doodle

By T. E. Kalem

ALL OVER TOWN by MURRAY SCHISGAL

Murray Schisgal commands the last manic outpost of the theater of the absurd. He can be terribly funny--provided his audience possesses sympathy with the dipsy doodlers of this world.

In terms of dramatic biodynamics, Schisgal has attempted to fuse the zany family comedy of You Can't Take It with You with the door-slamming wackiness of Feydeau's geometrically composed bedroom-chases-cum-orgies. Unfortunately, Schisgal's characters are as charmless as unthreaded spools, and he has yet to learn the primal lesson of the Feydeau farce: comic tension depends on who is hiding behind the door rather than who breezes casually through it.

Sexually Irresponsible. The plot is thin. A young man named Louie (Zane Lasky) has impregnated five women, sired nine children by them and cast their support on the bowed back of the U.S. taxpayer. A black deliveryman, Lewis (Cleavon Little), is mistaken for this paragon of sexual irresponsibility, and his favors are courted by a family whose minds and hearts consist of liberal mush.

While Lasky and Little are tangy with comic flavor, Schisgal's shining angel for 1975 is Dustin Hoffman, making his debut as a director. Moving 18 actors with the agility of an Osterizer, Hoffman proves that he is only a laugh-beat away from the comedic ingenuity Of Mike Nichols.

T.E. Kalem

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