Playwright: Corneille, adapted by David Ives. At: Writers' Theatre, 325 Tudor Ct., Glencoe. Tickets: 847-242-6000; www.writerstheatre.org; $35-$70. Runs through: July 28
It's rare to have one 17th-century French play up-and-running in Chicago, let alone two, but that's our pleasant predicament, and both are rhymed-verse comedies. Court Theatre offers Moliere's The Misanthrope (1666) through June 9 while The Liar, a 1643 Pierre Corneille rarity, plays at Writers' Theatre. Corneille is best-known for tragedy, but The Liar demonstrates he was a master of comedy and rich verbal wit. However, this 2010 version is not precisely what Corneille wrote, and American adapter David Ives makes no bones about playing fast-and-loose with the original.
Mixed pedigree or not (Corneille himself based his play on an earlier work), The Liar has been delightfully reimagined by Ives and staged with precise vigor by William Brown and a most attractive cast. The title character, Dorante (Nate Burger), is a handsome, dashing compulsive liar. Meeting gal pals Clarice (brunette Laura Rook) and Lucrece (blonde Kalen Harriman) by chance, he pursues Clarice but thinks she's Lucrece. Clarice is the fiancée of his best friend (Michael Perez) but Dorante doesn't realize this, having confused the names. Dorante's indulgent father (Jonathan Weir) arranges for Dorante to marry Clarice, but Dorante weasels out through an elaborate lie, again thinking it's the wrong woman, etc.
Such clichéd plot situations have been the small change of romantic comedy for more than 2,000 years. When they are kept fresh (and they aren't always), it's by the wit and dexterity of master playwrights. Corneille distilled these elements into a social comedy or comedy of manners but Ives has doctored it into a quasi-farce. He's added physical elements not in the original, among them a duel (kept offstage by Corneille), identical twin sisters (both played by Anne E. Thompson) and Doronte's long-lost twin brother (LaShawn Banks).
He's also doctored the language, adding several modern vulgarities, four homages to Shakespeare and low-comedy word play such as rhyming "oyster," "cloister" and "moister," and Isabelle with "visi-bell" and "misera-bell." Either Ives or director Brown also has found some ways to break the fourth wall, thereby engaging the audience with a show which never tries to disguise its staginess, much to the joy of the ticket-buyers. I have only two quibbles. First, Doronte's servant—who cannot speak a falsehood—is given little to do and doesn't impact the plot. Second, a two-and-half hour (with intermission) is just a tad long for a play with a rote plot and little substance. Even so, The Liar is the funniest adaptation of a classical comedy I've encountered since Scapino, the 1974 update of Moliere created by actor Jim Dale and director Frank Dunlop. For this good-looking show, Keith Pitts designed the graceful blue-and-gold scenery, Jesse Klug the almost-fragrant lighting and Rachel Anne Healey the semi-1640s costumes.
