The storied titans of Edwardian comedy will find new company on June 26th when the Ark Theatre presents Donaco Smyth’s “Capsized Flotsam.” In the spirit of past Edwardian legends, from Oscar Wilde to George Bernard Shaw to P.G. Wodehouse, Los Angeles playwright Smyth has concocted an outrageous mix of wit, manners and fantasy.
In 1904 London, a troubled novelist must juggle his mounting debt, plagiarism and the occasional hassle of an ill-timed out-of-body experience while struggling to keep his sexuality a secret and to prevent his irritated lover from marching out the door. This tsunami of threats and pressure mounts from all sides as the desperate writer strains valiantly, and hilariously, to hold it all together. Smyth brilliantly meshes the wit of Wilde and Wodehouse with the fantasy worlds of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells and fuels it all with pure silliness. “Capsized Flotsam,” which previously met with popular and critical success in Florida and New York (The Village Voice called it “a raucous romp”), is the second of Smyth’s plays to romp across L.A. stages. His comedy, “Annoyed by Life” appeared at the Hudson Guild Theatre in 2004 and was directed by Ark Theatre member Douglas Leal, who is back to direct “Capsized Flotsam.”

Showtimes

8pm Thursdays - Saturdays, 7pm Sundays

$15-22