Two hapless, small-time crooks hit the roads of South Carolina in search of their next “big” score in T-Bone n Weasel. The John Klein comedy is the latest theatrical presentation at The 222 in Healdsburg and concludes its short run with three performances through April 5.  

Pals T-Bone (Aldo Billingslea) and Weasel (Timothy Roy Redmond) are tooling around in a stolen Buick when they hit upon the idea of holding up a liquor store. It’s bad enough when they enter the store to find a rifle-toting owner (Sylvia Burboeck) behind the counter manning a cash register that won’t open, but then Weasel discovers the owner is an old neighbor of his. Their robbery plan goes out the door along with a bottle of Swiss Brandy that cost them all the cash they had on hand. They’d like to leave but for the fact the Buick’s fanbelt has busted.  

So it’s off to a used car lot, a ravine, a church basement, a farm, a diner, a local politico’s home, a penitentiary, and a construction site before they’re back on the road again. All the people they meet along the way – a shady used car salesman, a preacher, a homeless man, a sexually insatiable female farmer, a redneck sheriff, and a local doctor with political aspirations who professes to hate poverty but actually hates poor people – are played by Burboeck.    

Klein’s script is slight and the humor is almost completely based on southern stereotypes, but it is amusing. There are (very) faint echoes of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men as Billingslea’s T-bone plays George to Redmond’s Lenny.

Issues of poverty, political opportunism, and especially racism are wrapped in humor in this typical bare-bones 222 production. The “set” consists of three chairs and a backdrop behind which Burboeck does multiple quick changes. That means it’s up to the cast to convey a sense of place and time and director Jeff Bracco has three top talents at work here. 

Billingslea shows there’s more to T-Bone than just being a career criminal and a discussion with a prison chaplain hints at what might have led him there. Redmond brings a sweetness and naivete to Weasel that gives him more depth than a standard dunce. He never sees his friend’s color and is horrified by those who do. Burboeck displays significant comedic chops in her variety of roles. 

Yes, the 1986 script is somewhat dated, but it’s still worth taking a ride with T-Bone n Weasel. 

‘T-Bone n Weasel’ runs through April 5 at The 222, 222 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. Fri, 7:00 pm; Sun, 2 pm and 7 pm. $45-$105. Students free with ID. 707.473.9152. the222.org

Photo by Paul Mahder

This review originally appeared in an edited version in the Healdsburg Tribune.