Puffs at Silhouette Stages: Revenge of the Nerds,” Potter Style
Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a side character in a story? To not be the hero, but just another onlooker? Matt Cox’s Puffs at Silhouette Stages examines this idea in hilarious fashion as we delve into the world of a Certain School of Magic and Magic. A riotous romp through mediocrity, Cox’s 2015 parody of the Harry Potter franchise shows us all that, while we may not always be the hero in everyone else’s story, we can still be the hero in our own.
Director Carl Randolph brings the magic to life through an amazingly funny and talented cast, several of them playing multiple roles to parody as many Potter-isms as possible. The show consists of a great many references to the books and movies of the franchise, including multiple references to roles changing actors, and even portraying HP’s two best friends with a red-dyed mop. According to the show, the best thing about the Puffs, a fourth-rate fraternity reminiscent of the Hufflepuffs, is their failure, and their proximity to the kitchen. Randolph’s cast expertly embraces this idea (the failure, not the kitchen), even to the point that a missed entrance was handled with such grace and mocking that it took a second or two to realize that it wasn’t truly part of the show. Doubling as Sound Designer, Randolph’s silly sound effects and melodramatic music heightened the tension of the show, while constantly reminding the audience that this was a comedy.
Costume Designer Lexi Gmeinwieser, along with Makeup Designer Carl Randolph, go far to reinforce the themes of mediocrity through their dressing of the cast. While most of the main characters’ costumes consisted of little more than street clothes and Potter-esque robes, the side characters wore wildly outlandish, comical costumes to portray as much as parody some of the best-known characters of the franchise. A particular highlight of this technique was that of Voldy, the main villain of the show, who wore a piece of less-than-inconspicuous tape across his face to portray the fact that the character had no nose. The costuming design made the audience feel like a group of Potterheads that had been strolling through Party City when an impromptu performance had broken out in the aisles, with each actor scanning the aisles to find the right prop to portray the next wacky character. It made the show feel like a true homage to every kid who’d ever sat at their bedside waiting for their acceptance letter to the magical school and was as perfectly imperfect as the characters themselves.
The set for the show was a fairly simple but effective one. Set and Projections Designer Sebastian Sears used just four doors and a projection screen to portray the four dorm rooms, as well as the many halls and classrooms of the school. This design proved especially effective during the final fight scene, when characters slipped through the doors as though they were in a Scooby-Doo episode, including the unrelated 60’s rock music playing in the background. While I feel the staging could’ve embraced this trope a little more, it served the show well, again embracing the perfect mediocrity of the characters. Lighting Designer TJ Lukacsina helped to add both tension and hilarity to the performance, using flashy, overdramatic lighting to heighten the drama while enhancing the comedy.
Narrator Amy Haynes Rapnicki leads the cast through her balanced, relatable narration. Rapnicki escorts the audience through the events of the show, using a professionalism of a typical narrator, with several well-placed comedic outbursts here and there to remind the audience that The Boy Who Lived is not the focus of this story. Her delivery and timing are excellent, often catching the audience off guard with jokes and comedic commentary.
As with the HP series, Puffs focuses mainly on a trio of unlikely heroes, Wayne Hopkins (Gabriel Duque), Oliver Rivers (Danny Bertaux), and Megan Jones (Lia Grady). As the main protagonist of the story, Duque portrays Wayne more like the best friend of the lead than the lead themselves, making Wayne incredibly relatable, even down to his status as the “third wheel” in Oliver and Megan’s eventual relationship. Danny Bertaux puts the nerd back in wizard, playing Oliver ala Robert Carradine’s Lewis in Revenge of the Nerds, a loveable loser who can’t help but win the audience’s hearts. Lia Grady’s Megan Jones is the typical emo chick of the school, akin to Lydia in Beetlejuice. She wants to be part of the Snakes but can’t help but fall in line with the Puffs. Together, the three capture the reality of being a teenager, and remind us all of our own time in school, wondering how we’d become the heroes of our own stories.
Rounding out the student roster at the wizarding school, Leanne (Faith Wang), Sally Perks (Tricia Anderson), and Susie Bones (Charlie Tell), each present their own quirky characters for the audience to love. Chalie Tell also presents our favorite Boy Wizard as something of a scene stealing jerk, annoyingly cute in all that Potter does. The roster also includes the goofy but lovable frat boy Cedric (Yousuf Shah). Shah does wonders with the part, becoming the de facto leader of the Puffs until tragedy strikes around the end of the first act (though the Puffs don’t realize what’s happened until the beginning of the second). Nikolai Skwarczek provides some Monty Python-esque humor through J. Finch Finchley, an overconfident nutso who only refers to himself in third person, a part that feels like something straight out of John Cleese’s playbook.
As the various professors at the school, Chris Riehl and Delaney Gregg bring to the stage various spot-on impersonations and madcap personas that made the movies are memorable as they are. Riehl’s Alan Rickman impersonation is second to only Rickman himself, delivering a Wizarding Sex Ed lesson with nothing but his wand, a donut, and a humor drier than the Sahara. Riehl also doubles as Mad Eye Moody, with a hilarious set of googly eye glasses and a horribly funny accent. Gregg handles the female professors at the school with gusto, as well as trading off the role of the Headmaster with Riehl, prompting the students to ask “Doesn’t the Headmaster look different this year,” referencing the casting change from Richard Harris to Michael Gambon upon Harris’ death after Film 2. Nikolai Skwarczek features yet again as Zac Smith, a gruff flying instructor whose Act 2 monologue about the inaccessibility of the school’s moving staircases felt like an expertly executed standup comedy routine.
What’s an epic wizarding story without its villains? Led by Xavia Jones (Megan’s mother, as played by Delaney Gregg) and Mr. Voldy (Yousuf Shah), the actors transform from students into nameless Death Eaters, killing everyone in sight until they can find the hilariously irritating Harry. Gregg’s portrayal of Xavia presents as the devil on Megan’s shoulder, a femme fatale trying to convince Megan that she should embrace her darker side and join the evil wizards in their quest to kill HP and take over the school. Yousuf Shah’s Voldy is a hilariously inept villain, with a taped down nose and no shoes, a fact that Voldy himself points out in another uproarious moment of what felt like a standup routine. In expert fashion, Shah portrays Voldy ala Jim Carrey’s Grinch, in that you know he’s the bad guy, but you can’t help but almost like him anyway.
The most powerful Puff piece I’ve seen all season (Pun certainly intended!!!), Silhouette Stage’s Puffs will leave every Potterhead screaming for more, and help us all to remember that, while we may not have gotten our owl-delivered letter to join the school, at least we didn’t have to spend seven books, eight movies, and countless other adaptations being told that we weren’t as important as that weirdo with the scar on his forehead. A triumph of mediocrity and perfect imperfection, Puffs runs from March 6th through 24th.
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission
Puffs plays through March 24th 2024 with Silhouette Stages at Slayton House Theatre in the Village of Wilde Lake Columbia— 10400 Cross Fox Lane in Columbia, MD. For tickets please call the box office at (410) 216-4499 or purchase them in advance online.
