‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ @ Pocket Sandwich Theatre
—Carol M. Rice
Pocket Sandwich Theatre is a DFW institution known primarily for their hilarious popcorn-tossing melodramas. But their “straight plays”—aka, the ones without popcorn—often don’t get the attention they deserve. The Pocket has been around since 1980, and if you haven’t made it to their new venue in Carrollton, you’re missing out.
PST’s current offering, a Ray Cooney/Michael Cooney farce called Tom, Dick and Harry, is the perfect way to spend an evening laughing until your face hurts.
It’s a story about three brothers named (you guessed it) Tom, Dick, and Harry who live in London. Tom and his wife Linda are trying to adopt a baby and have a meeting with Mrs. Potter from the adoption agency scheduled at their home, exactly one hour from when the lights go up onstage. It’s amazing how many things can go wrong during that time.
Dick lives upstairs in the house Tom and Linda are renting, and has just returned the keys to Tom’s van to him—after using it to smuggle brandy and cigarettes across the border from France. To make matters worse, Dick has found two refugees stowed away in the van Meanwhile, brother Harry, who works at a morgue, is ankle-deep in a scheme to bury body parts in Tom and Linda’s garden…to help them get a better price when they ask to buy the house.
As the increasingly beleaguered Tom, Josh Hires is a whirlwind of manic energy. He makes up lie after lie, digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole, and does so believably (well, as believably as possible when one is in a farce). He is constantly moving, has a ton of dialogue, and almost never leaves the stage. Hires carries the show; without someone as strong a comic actor as he is, it would not succeed. Watching him wiggle through all the crazy situations Tom has gotten into is worth the price of admission.
Michael McCrary is Dick, the quick-on-his-feet bother who has no problem adding to the confusion; in fact, he seems to relish it. McCrary is laid back and takes all the mess he’s made in stride. He has great comic timing and physical control.
As Harry, Cade Roberti plays the less-than-bright brother with an air-headed dumbness that beautifully complements the other two. He has excellent facial expressions, and does a lot of running around while trying to figure out how to dispose of the cadaver. And somehow, he never seems out of breath.
As Linda, Catlin Whitley makes her disdain for Tom’s brothers known from the very beginning. While she doesn’t have as much stage time as the men, she makes the most of it with her wide variety of emotionsal and physical comedy. She has excellent chemistry with Hires; they make a fun, believable couple.
Kelly Moore Clarkson plays Mrs. Potter (from the adoption agency) as a dour and unsympathetic old biddy who has no patience with anyone who inconveniences her. Her lack of humor contrasts nicely with the chaos.
As the stowaway refugees Andreas and Katerina, Jeff McIntosh and understudy Caitlyn Cole (who performed at the show I attended) were a delightful mess, especially once Andreas got ahold of some of Dick’s smuggled brandy. McIntosh has a ball with this ridiculous, trumpet-playing character! Cole is necessarily more subdued as Katerina, but her budding romance with Dick is sweet and silly, and both McIntosh and Cole manage their foreign language dialogue (whatever it is) with ease.
As Boris, the heavy who arrives with passports for the migrants, Scott Nixon is appropriately scary and sleazy as the perfect underworld crime boss.
Naturally, since there are illegal aliens and contraband involved, the police have to show up, and Lauren Ashley Hearn plays Constable Downs with just the right amount of curiosity about the suspicious goings-on. Her helpful demeanor turns into frustration and then admiration; Hearn gets to depict a range of reactions as the action progresses, and she does it well.
Director Nick Haley has directed this riotous farce with off-the-charts energy and outrageous comedy. His casting is spot on, and his actors deliver exceptional performances throughout.
The set, designed by Claire Floyd Devries, lets us know from the beginning that we’re in for a farce simply from the number of doors, and Tim Armstrong’s simple costume design complements the characters and situations. I especially liked Clarkson’s suit for Mrs. Potter.
Tom, Dick and Harry is a rare Cooney farce that I was not familiar with (I love their work), and the Pocket Sandwich Theatre’s production is a must-see. If you can make it this coming Friday or Saturday, stick around for Rooftop Productions’ new late-night show, Death ChatGPT — also extremely funny. That one has just two more performances, but Tom, Dick and Harry (yay!) runs through June 21.
WHEN: May 23-June 21, 2025
WHERE: 1104 Elm Street (in historic downtown Carrollton)
WEB: pocketsandwich.com
