Things get wild and wacky when a comely female anthropologist is proposed for membership in a heretofore all-male scientific society in Nell Benjamin’s madcap Victorian romp The Explorers Club, now getting a delectably acted West Coast Premiere at Theatre 40.

The anthropologist in question is Phyllida Spotte-Hume (Meghan Lewis), recently returned from the Lost City Of Pahatlabong, aka “the worst place on earth,” accompanied by an extravagantly garbed NaKong warrior she’s nicknamed Luigi (Hovhannes John Babakhanyan) in place of the 14-syllable name he was given at birth.

Also attending today’s meeting are Lucius Fretway (Matt Landig), clearly smitten with the attractive young woman he has nominated for membership; Professor Cope (Daniel Leslie), who wears a deadly cobra named Rosie around his neck as if she were a feather boa; meek and mild Professor Walling (Kevin Dulude), who rather appropriately conducts behavioral studies on rodents like his one remaining guinea pig Jane, the others having found means of escape; intrepid explorer Harry Percy (Christopher Franciosa), who has just returned from discovering the East Pole (and now plans to find the West one); and Bible-thumping Professor Sloane (Michael Mullen), who deems Phyllida’s sex “weak with sin and led away with divers lusts” and is bound and determined to veto her membership if it’s the last thing he does.

Not that joining The Explorers Club is Phyllida’s primary concern at the moment given Luigi’s upcoming visit to Buckingham Palace, a royal presentation that could well provoke armed conflict should Queen Victoria greet her exotic guest with a handshake, to which Luigi would be required by NaKong custom to respond with a slap to Her Majesty’s royal cheek.

Adding to the likelihood of disastrous events ahead is Professor Sloan’s “breakthrough in Biblical studies,” one that has revealed the people of Ireland to be descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and Jehovah only knows how the Irish will respond when informed that they are in fact Jewish.

Not only does The Explorers Club (as director Melanie MacQueen puts it) “point a wagging finger at sexism, racism, classism and probably a few other ‘isms,‘” it does so by delivering two hours of inspired silliness that tickled me from start to finish, particularly as performed by a couldn’t-be-better cast of Theatre 40 veterans and newbies.

Landig anchors the production in a terrifically engaging leading man turn opposite Lewis’s deliciously dry Phyllida, the latter doubling drolly as her more imperious twin the Countess Glamorgan.

 A swashbuckling Franciosa gives Indiana Jones some pretty tough competition in the intrepid explorer department, Dulude’s timid-as-a-titmouse Professor Walling never fails to amuse, Leslie’s jolly, cobra-loving Professor Cope is another winner, and Mullen’s misogynistic Professor Walling glares disdainfully at anyone of the female persuasion to rib-tickling effect.

Adding to the post-intermission mirth are John Combes’ Mr. Beebe (think the Dalai Lama as played by a Marx Brother) and David Hunt Stafford’s amusingly harrumphing Queen’s emissary Sir Bernard Humphries.

Most scene-stealing of all is Babakhanyan as quite possibly the most wonderfully weird character ever to burst onto the Theatre 40 stage, with special snaps to the Armenian-American multi-hyphenate for mastering big chunks of the NaKong language. (Benjamin’s published script includes both a list of Basic NaKong vocabulary and “some basics on the Nakong Language” based on “original research by Phyllida Spotte-Hume.”)

Jeff G. Rack’s expedition paraphernalia-packed Victorian men’s club set is one of his best, with additional design kudos to Derrick McDaniel for his expert lighting, Mullen for his elegant, stately, period-perfect costumes and Judi Lewin’s matching hair, wig, and makeup designs, and Nick Foran’s pitch-perfect sound design.

The Explorers Club is produced by Stafford. Chris Aruffo is assistant to the director and dialect coach. Don Solosan is stage manager. Philip Sokolof is publicist.

Greeted by numerous rave reviews when it debuted off-Broadway in 2013, Nell Benjamin’s The Explorers Club seems likely to do the same in its Theatre 40 debut. And no wonder. It’s a thoroughly entertaining screwball treat.

Theatre 40, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills.
www.Theatre40.org

–Steven Stanley
May 26, 2024
Photos: Judi Lewin

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Nell Benjamin, Theatre 40