Tyler Perry's What's Done in the Dark... - The Play Collection

Get ready to laugh and sing out loud. WHAT'S DONE IN THE DARK, set in a hospital emergency room, follows several nurses, their doctors, and some very interesting patients (hello, Mr. Brown!). What seems routine rarely is. Some folks would do well to remember: what's done in the dark always come to light. Tyler Perry mixes melodrama, social commentary, slapstick comedy, gospel music, and public health announcements in What's Done in the Dark... The lives of nurses, doctors, and patients of a city hospital get turned upside-down: A nurse discovers the doctor she's fooling around with is married; a faithful husband is diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease; the son of a nurse abandoned by her husband seeks desperate means to make money; and audience favorite Mr. Brown (David Mann), who's appeared in other Perry plays, comes to the hospital convinced that he's dying, dragging his long-suffering daughter Cora (Tamela Mann) along with him. What's Done in the Dark... is a production of a play, filmed before a live audience, so it doesn't have the visual dynamics of a movie, but the full-tilt, show-stopping gospel songs wouldn't have the same unbridled exuberance anywhere but on the stage. Perry's writing is rarely subtle, but What's Done in the Dark... is broader than usual--even longtime fans may find the cartoonish Nurse Trudy (D'Atra Hicks) a bit hard to take. Nonetheless, the play continues Perry's devotion to themes of love, respect, and the grace of God, as well as providing health information for the African-American community. And Mr. Brown, in his jarringly colorful clothes and silly malaprops, is a topnotch buffoon. His over-the-top theatrics are not for everyone, but fans won't be able to get enough of him. --Bret Fetzer