Carissa Dixon
Delightful games: A hilarious Marcus Truschinski (left) and wickedly funny Kelsey Brennan.
Leaving the Touchstone Theatre after the opening night performance of Marivaux’s The Game of Love and Chance, a fellow audience member remarked that the production was “like a bonbon.” It was the perfect summary of the delightful play American Players Theatre is presenting through Nov. 22 to end its 2015 season. A beautifully adorned comedy with plenty of sweetness to enchant and amuse, it is a little piece of decadence presented expertly in three short acts.
Superbly directed by former APT artistic director David Frank, the 17th-century French comedy adheres to many classic tropes of its genre — lavish, at times outlandish, period costumes, including marvelously exaggerated wigs; mistaken identities; stock characters such the lusty maid, the bumbling servant and the noble lovers; and many asides to the audience where characters speak their minds, reveal their true feelings, and let us in on the jokes they are about to play. With this production there are even more clever winks to the crowd, as a lowly valet arranges furniture for the very first scene while responding to changes in lighting and sound cues in the theatrical world he inhabits.
The plot is simple and ripe for comedy. Two young people are betrothed by their fathers, but to size up their proposed matches at their first meeting, each decides to trade places with their servant. Lisette (the wickedly funny Kelsey Brennan) plays out her fantasies of ordering around her mistress and flirting with the fellow she supposes to be a rich nobleman. Standing in for his master, Harlequin (the hilarious, mop-topped Marcus Truschinski) takes even more liberties with his pretend position, playing his superior as a clumsy, arrogant blowhard. From the moment he sees Lisette, however, he is profoundly, hopelessly in love.
Dressed in the plain clothes of their attendants, Silvia (the delightfully overwhelmed Melisa Pereyra) and Dorante (a serious and handsome Jeb Burris) awkwardly mimic the bowing and curtseying of the lower class, but woo each other with the nobility and language they cannot disguise. Deeply conflicted by their attraction to someone below their station, they both struggle with what they believe is misplaced but genuine affection.
Watching all of these young people fall madly in love with the right person in the wrong costume is Monsieur Orgon, Silvia’s father, who is in on the ruse from the beginning. Played with a smirk by Ted Deasy, he relishes watching the confused lovers and even adds to the pandemonium before everyone is finally unmasked.
In the program notes, Frank suggests that this translation of Marivaux’s play, by accomplished classics and opera director Stephen Wadsworth, is a bit too plain. In fact, the text is strikingly simple and straightforward, removing any barriers to understanding that a modern audience may have. But it also removes some of the playwright’s artistry and poetry. To make up for lack of linguistic flourish, the actors were coached by mimes and choreographers Corrinne Soum and Steven Wasson. The resulting physical flourishes add delightful energy and theatricality to every scene.
This mischief and matchmaking is all played out on a relatively spare set, designed by Nathan Stuber. The three slabs of gilt- edged, wood parquet flooring work ingeniously in the Touchstone, providing the main playing space, a raked ramp and a wall that serves as an appropriate hiding place for characters who need to eavesdrop on the giddy goings on in the mansion.
The sincere moments when characters ponder the consequences of choosing the wrong mate or marrying outside of their class help anchor the silliness that prevails in The Game of Love and Chance —a deliciously bitter note of dark chocolate to offset the gooey, rich filling of this perfect little bonbon of a play.
