Arts & Entertainment writers offer capsule comments on this, that and the other thing ...

Is anything really true? Do we have to be able to prove something for it to be true? One might believe, for instance, that one's in-laws are annoying or British people are stuffy. But can either be proven?

The answers are predictable in Theatre Factory's production of Anthony Marriott and Alistair Foot's farce, "No Sex Please, We're British." But that matters very little as long as watching said British with their in-laws is funny. Which, under the direction of Ron Ferrara and a capable cast, it is.

This farcical take on a young couple, Peter (John Yost) and Frances (Nancy Mimless), dealing with Peter's mother, Eleanor (Kim McLeod), combines dry British wit and slapstick physical humor.

The troupe delivers page after page of snide Brit-wit in the tradition of "Are You Being Served?" The constable, for instance, requests a "very small double" of whiskey. Yet they also manage to keep those who aren't used to cerebral humor entertained with plenty of physical humor -- porn stars chasing after bank managers, tellers disguising themselves as the Gorton fishermen, that sort of thing.

Though it should be said that a couple of the British accents, most notably the lascivious bank manager and the more talkative of the two porn stars, slip at times, altogether the company puts on quite a nice show. If you don't mind thinking British for a couple of hours and prefer very large double entendres, "No Sex" might be just the ticket.

At Theatre Factory, Third and Cavitt avenues, Trafford, through March 5; 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat.; 2 p.m. Sun.; dinner packages available; $14-$16; 412-374-9200.

-- Review by Philip A. Stephenson
Post-Gazette staff writer

'One Day at a Time' reunion

Earlier this month, ABC turned back the clock for a look at "Happy Days," and tonight at 9 CBS revisits the 1975-1984 sitcom "One Day at a Time."

Series stars Bonnie Franklin, who played divorcee Ann Romano, and Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips, who played her daughters, sit around and reminisce about the sitcom. Pat Harrington, who played handyman Dwayne Schneider, also makes an appearance.

The series stars talk candidly about Phillips' substance abuse problems and the effect they had on the show. Though not as popular as "Happy Days," "One Day at Time" was certainly more culturally significant in its snapshot portrayal of one (fictional) American family's experiences in the 1970s with divorce, drugs and sex.

-- Rob Owen,
Post-Gazette TV editor