In Review: Competition drives the fun in silly ‘Pickleball’ tourney at Purple Rose

NOTE: Pickleball at The Purple Rose has been extended to Dec. 23

By Nicole M. Robertson
For WeLoveAnnArbor.com

What would you give to excel at something you love?

For 50 bucks an hour, a perky young missy whose handle is “Perfect” can teach what you need to know to become a 3.0-rated pickleballer.

It’s all for laughs in Jeff Daniels’ new comedy, “Pickleball,” running through Dec. 17 at the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea.

America’s fastest-growing sport, as the play reminds us, is NOT tennis. Played with a paddle and wiffle balls on a smaller court, it combines tennis, badminton and ping-pong in a game just about anyone can play.

Do you need to play pickleball to enjoy this play? Nah, though it might enhance your experience. For instance, the game term “dink” is a great punchline for a joke, and you get the gist from watching the action. I looked it up, but a friend who pickles didn’t know what it means, either.

No matter; it’s not really about that. It’s about four below-average players working to overcome their limitations in a game — err … a sport — that has nothing to do with pickles.

Anyone familiar with any of Jeff Daniels’ 20 plays — all premiered at the Chelsea theater he founded — know his stories have a serious side lurking beneath often-lowbrow yuks. Love is the driving force of his silly hunting-camp play (and movie) “Escanaba in da Moonlight,” and it’s a theme at the heart of this one, too.

Larry (Ryan Carlson) plays in hopes of meeting single women: “Pickleball is the singles bar of sports, my friends,” he advises. His partner, Billie (Caitlin Cavannaugh), plays in honor of her deceased wife, who died on the court, doing what she loved. Spike (Jonathan West) is about to be divorced for choosing pickleball over his wife. And Sheldon (Lynch Travis), well, he isn’t playing much lately, after an on-court injury resulted in hip replacement surgery.

Sheldon believes the only thing his game lacks is “a partner that’ll stay on his side of the court.” Seems Spike has a habit of poaching balls that come to his partner, but this aggressive technique doesn’t work for Sheldon. One day, Sheldon “tried to poach it, and POP! POP! There goes my butt!”

Perfect, played by the balletic Kate Thomsen, is a YouTube influencer who learned a secret technique from the Dalai Lama — one she swore never to use. But who could resist temptation to employ a killer return bestowed on her by His Holiness? She won a trophy at the Windy City Invitational using her mystical powers to tragic effect, however, “I can’t say how sorry I am, because there is no sorry in pickleball.”

Filled with verbal gags and physical comedy, there’s even a touch of musical theater thrown in. At the high point of the story, the actors break into a rap with rhymes about pickleball, in the style of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”

Special appreciation goes to the scenic (Sarah Pearline), lighting (Noele Stollmack) and sound (Robert W. Hubbard) designers who created a delightful, fantastical set with a secret trap-door elevator and haunting voices coming from all corners of the intimate 168-seat room.

“Pickleball,” which contains adult language and content, runs through Dec. 17 at Purple Rose Theatre, 137 Park Street Chelsea. Tickets are 52-$24, with discounts for seniors, students and military personnel. For more information, call 734-433-7673 or email info@purplerosetheatre.org. 

MAIN PHOTO: Billie (Caitlin Cavannaugh, left) and Larry (Ryan Carlson, right) talk sport with Larry (Ryan Carlson), who’s recovering from hip surgery in Jeff Daniels’ latest comedy, “Pickleball,” at Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea. 2022 Sean Carter Photography