The Tom Stoppard farce runs February 27 through March 8

CSU's second theatre production of the year is Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound. Directed by Russ Borski, the production will be presented at the Outcalt Theatre in the Allen Theatre Complex at Playhouse Square. This one-act play within a play is part parody, part farce, part whodunit and explores the ideology of free will and fate. A murder mystery with a twist ending, it intertwines classic characters of melodrama with the commentary and insecurities of modern critics.

First staged in 1968, Stoppard’s play features feuding theatre critics Moon and Birdboot, the first a fusty philanderer and the second a pompous and vindictive second stringer, who are swept into the whodunit they are viewing. In the hilarious spoof of Agatha Christie-like melodramas that follows, the body under the sofa proves to be the missing first string critic. As mists rise about isolated Muldoon Manor, Moon and Birdboot become dangerously implicated in the lethal activities of an escaped madman.

"The Real Inspector Hound is an exceedingly clever lampoon, sharply in focus..." - The New York Times

"What absurd fun Tom Stoppard created when he let fantasies run wild." - Evening Standard

"Really funny comic gem." - Daily Mail

The Real Inspector Hound runs February 27 through March 8, 2020. Show times are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. $5-$15 tickets are available by calling 216.241.6000, visiting playhousesquare.org, or at the State Theatre Ticket Office, located at 1519 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44115. Tickets are also available 60-minutes prior to performances at the Allen Theatre Complex. $25 Dinner and a Show tickets are available by pre-reservation only at Playhouse Square for the Friday, Feb. 28 performance, with dinner prior to the performance presented at Elements Bistro on Euclid – use code DIN when reserving.

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