|
| |
| Shanti Elise Prasad &
DeeAnn Weir (white suit) |
|
Photo Credit:Bob Pileggi |
| This is not the School for
Scandal you remember from high school. It’s not dry
and labored the way a classic ought to be. From a
techno-laced opening sequence spawned by the union of a
classical dumb-show, a commedia troupe and a John Woo
film, it’s clear that this all-female crew isn’t going
to respect much of anything.
That’s what makes
it so much fun.
After the restoration of the
monarchy in 1660, the English theatre rebounded with a
vengeance from the repression of the Cromwell years.
Tragedy and realism were out, and racy French-influenced
comedies of sex and manners reigned. By the 1770’s,
melodrama was on the rise, but plays like Sheridan’s
hearkened back to the foamy sex-farces of a century
earlier – with an acerbic chaser of eighteenth century
satire.
The curtain rises on the school for
scandal itself, a clique of fashionable Londoners
blessed with such an excess of wit that they have no
option but to use it as a bludgeoning instrument against
their neighbors. The plot is a wild contrivance
concerning two brothers, Charles and Joseph Surface –
the former a profligate with a decent heart, the latter
a sanctimonious miser with the soul of an insect.
When these two vie for the hand of the beautiful
(and stinking rich) Maria, Joseph engages the aid of the
school of scandal’s chief reputation-slayer, Lady
Sneerwell, to twist events into his favor, and naturally
hijinks ensue.
In its day the play was raucous,
irreverent, and certainly not exempt from the charge of
being part of the culture of ridicule it lampooned.
Director Rebecca Patterson brings back the old
violence, with a few postmodern twists. The wild
physical comedy, impromptu dance numbers, and occasional
interruptions of the action for vaudevillian hi-jinks
add an almost Brechtian level to the production.
Patterson has often claimed that doing all
female versions of the classics was primarily an
artistic and not a political choice. In a 2001 interview
in the New York Blade, she explained: “a contemporary
male actor’s journey tends to be about getting in touch
with his feelings, or being an open conduit to his
feelings – a quality that Shakespeare’s male actors, for
example, already had.”
In a show whose style is
already alienating, the gender-bending doesn’t distract.
Actually, the fact that the actors, while costumed in
early 20th century formal wear, are all barefoot, draws
more undue attention.
Aside from the shoe thing
(which makes sense, but still looks odd), the set and
costumes are minimal and effective, the staging is
clever without being intrusive, and the amped-up comedy
just plain works. Few moments can compare to the point
when Charles Surface suddenly stops and… well, it
wouldn’t be fair to tell you, would it?
There
are weak points. The actors sometimes run roughshod over
the verse in their efforts to keep the gags going, and a
few scenes, particularly those in Sneerwell’s scandalous
society, become shrilly monotonous as the actors
bulldoze over the subtleties of dialogue.
But at
other points, the cast comes through with gusto. DeeAnne
Weir and Lauren Jill Ahrold are both well-used as the
Surface brothers. Weir particularly shines in the second
act, when the mounting hysteria of the plot gives her
the opportunity to take Joseph over top. But the show is
stolen by Queen’s Company veteran and resident dramaturg
Virgina Beata, playing Maria’s peevish guardian Sir
Peter Teazle. Her physical presence is strikingly
Chaplin-esque, but her use of language sets her apart.
Few actors can bring so much color and depth to poetry,
while making it seem so effortless.
In short, go
see School for Scandal. Unless you’re a purist – there’s
no point in torturing yourself. | |
Connelly
Theater |
Category:
Drama
Written by: Richard Brinsley
Sheridan
Directed by:
Produced
by: Queen's Company
Opens:
April 24
Closes: May 16
Running
Time: 2 hrs 30
mins
Address: 220 East 4th
Street
New York, NY 10009
Mapquest Directions
|
|
|
Tickets:
$15.00
Phone:
212-982-3995
Hours:
Online
Ticketing: Smarttix.com
|
|
|
Creative TeamWritten
by: Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Directed
by: Rebecca Patterson
Produced
by: The Queen's Company
Light
Designer: Aaron Copp
Sound
Designer: Sabrina McGuigan
Set
Designer: Jeremy Woodward
Costume
Designer: Sarah Iams
Fight
Director: DeeAnn Weir
CastMaureen Porter as Lady
Sneerwell, Careless
Eliza Ladd as Snake, Sir Benjamin
Backbite
DeeAnn Weir as Joseph Surface
Shanti
Elise Prasad as Maria, Trip, William
Ami Shukla as
Mrs. Candour, Moses
Valentina McKenzie as Crabtree,
Sir Oliver Surface
Virginia Baeta as Sir Peter
Teazle
Gisele Richardson as Rowley
Cynthia Brown
as Lady Teazle
Lauren Jill Ahrold as Charles
Surface
Erin Roe as Jebediah
CrewProduction
Manager:
Stage
Manager:
(other crew)
| |
