Plays tend to fall somewhere between the two extremes of all-out farce and maudlin romantic drama. The Undergraduate Theater Society’s production of The Irony of Fate, or: Enjoy Your Bath!, adapted from the Russian and directed by UW senior Rob Whitehead, is a romantic story, but one better told from the comic end of the spectrum.

Adapted from a Russian film of the same name, Irony of Fate tells the story of Zhenya (junior Stephen Folkins), a surgeon who gets black-out drunk on New Year’s Eve at a bathhouse in his native Moscow. While passed out, he is put on a plane to Leningrad by mistake, and he wakes up in an apartment identical to his, but in a city hundreds of miles away and inhabited by the lovely Nadya (junior McKenna Turner).

Folkins’s Zhenya is a demonstration in rapid character overhaul. At the outset, he is the epitome of the hapless bachelor, more inclined to live with his mother than propose to his girlfriend. However, as the play progresses, he discovers a passion that is uncharacteristically impractical.

Zhenya’s development is a bit haphazard, accelerating and decelerating at a moment’s notice. This is not a problem; the performance can be rationalized easily with the “love makes you crazy” argument, but it does make the whole endeavor slightly less relatable.

However, Folkins does display great vigor in Irony of Fate, infusing the production with energy and never failing to put the audience at ease.

Likewise, junior Colleen Abbott delivers a standout performance as Galya, Zhenya’s fiancée. Though seen only intermittently throughout the play, her spark is consistent and her acting ability is noticeable.

As a romance, Irony of Fate seems somewhat inconsequential. The love story it portrays between Zhenya and Nadya has moments of beautiful awkwardness and futile frustration, but it lacks the emotional gravity to be a truly poignant story of the heart.

Though it would be convenient to attribute this to the speed at which their emotional attachment is fostered, it seems more likely that the chemistry between Folkins and Turner is simply not sufficient to make such a speedy love story entirely believable.

However, Folkins and Turner do make an excellent pairing for the comedic elements of the play.

Replete with never-ending doorbell gags, a fun dose of mistaken identity and jolts of slapstick, the laughs are readily available in Irony of Fate.

Irony of Fate is a light play. Although lacking any deep romantic experience, it does offer some fun twists, amusing recurring characters and a dose of Russian social commentary. For these reasons, Irony of Fate is certainly worth a look.

Reach reporter Trevor Pendras at arts@dailyuw.com.