Cops & Lawyers written up in the Statesman

[acrouch]

The Statesman came out for Cops & Lawyers last weekend and we got a nice little write-up.

Improv comedy

SOLVING CRIME ON THE FLY

Imagine taking every dramatic element of "Law & Order" and ratcheting it up to its natural comedic end. That's "Cops and Lawyers," the improv show at the Hideout Theatre. As the lawyers might say, it's reductio ad absurdum in the best possible way. Well, improv lawyers might say that.

The troupe, which changes from week to week, begins with suggestions from the audience, then runs with them for 90 minutes of murder, investigation, trial politics and closing arguments. Then the actors throw the case back to the audience to hash out a verdict.

While the players seemed to muddle through the fact-sorting cops portion, they had an infectiously good time doing so. David Lampe buoyed the department with his deadpan, oblivious Detective Chalmers, drunkenly leering at Kaycee Samiee's murderous version of Lolita — if Lolita had been a 23-year-old, scotch-and-soda drinking dormant personality trapped in a pony-obsessed 9-year-old's body.

As the lead prosecutor and defense attorney, Troy Miller and Jay Michael delivered opening statements with a sense for histrionics that Andy Griffith would have admired — if, that is, he'd ever thought about having Perry Mason re-enact the crime as a pop-up book.

The legal precedents might be sketchy, and the show is always changing, but "Cops and Lawyers" deserves a fair trial.

("Cops and Lawyers" continues 8 p.m. Saturdays through Sept. 30 except this Saturday. The Hideout Theatre, 617 Congress Ave. $7-$10. 443-3688, www.hideouttheatre.com.)

— Joey Seiler

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

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