History Theatre / TheForeigner

%%* CorruptHick: Owen Musser, in spades.

''The Foreigner'' is a comedic play by Larry Shue, first performed in New York in 1984. It follows the adventures of a boring and chronically shy Englishman named Charlie Baker during his three-day stay in a rural fishing lodge in Georgia. He is there with his friend S/Sgt. "Froggy" [=LaSueur=], who is on official business with the American military, depressed over his nowhere job and his marriage to a wife who has been consistently unfaithful and is now terribly ill. Charlie feels he cannot talk to people, so he pretends to be a foreigner who speaks no English, and in doing so inadvertently charms many of the locals, including the widowed owner of the lodge Betty Meeks, bitter ex-debuntante Catherine Simms, and Catherine's dim-witted younger brother Ellard. But things get complicated when Catherine's fiance David accidentally impregnates her, and the racist property inspector Owen threatens to condemn the property and turn it into headquarters for TheKlan. Long story short, HilarityEnsues.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

''The Foreigner'' is a comedic play by Larry Shue, first performed in New York in 1984. It follows the adventures of a boring and chronically shy Englishman named Charlie Baker during his three-day stay in a rural fishing lodge in Georgia. He is there with his friend S/Sgt. "Froggy" [=LaSueur=], who is on official business with the American military, depressed over his nowhere job and his marriage to a wife who has been consistently unfaithful and is now terribly ill. He feels he cannot talk to people, so he pretends to be a foreigner who speaks no English, and in doing so inadvertently charms many of the locals, including the widowed owner of the lodge Betty Meeks, bitter ex-debuntante Catherine Simms, and Catherine's dim-witted younger brother Ellard. But things get complicated when Catherine's fiance David accidentally impregnates her, and the racist property inspector Owen threatens to condemn the property and turn it into headquarters for TheKlan. Long story short, HilarityEnsues.

Not to be confused with the StevenSeagal film.

* AltarTheSpeed
* BecomingTheMask: Charlie and his "foreign man" persona
* BigBad: Owen.

* CoolOldLady: Betty.
* CorruptHick: Owen Musser, in spades.
* TheDragon: David.
* FakeNationality: A rare in-play example.
** {{Fauxreigner}}

* TheGhost: Charlie's wife Mary, and Betty's late husband.

* TrueCompanions: What the heroes have become at the end of the show.

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero would be Charlie, though he's mostly of the reluctant variety.
** TheLancer is Froggy.
** TheBigGuy is Ellard.
** TheChick: Catherine.

* LittleRedRidingHood: When prompted to tell a story in his native language, Charlie tells this, with the help of ridiculous hand gestures.

''The Foreigner'' is a comedic play by Larry Shue, first performed in New York in 1984. It follows the adventures of a boring and chronically shy Englishman named Charlie Baker during his three-day stay in a rural fishing lodge in Georgia. He is there with his friend S/Sgt. "Froggy" [=LaSueur=], who is on official business with the American military, depressed over his nowhere job and his marriage to a wife who has been consistently unfaithful and is now terribly ill. He feels he cannot talk to people, so he pretends to be a foreigner who speaks no English, and in doing so inadvertently charms many of the locals, including the widowed owner of the lodge Betty Meeks, bitter ex-debuntante Catherine Simms, and Catherine's dim-witted younger brother Ellard. But things get complicated when Catherine's fiance David accidentally impregnates her, and the racist property inspector Owen threatens to condemn the property and turn it into headquarters for the Ku Klux Klan. Long story short, HilarityEnsues.