Playwright: Marivaux,
adapted by Stephen Wadsworth
At: Reverie Theatre at Breadline
Phone: ( 773 ) 327-6096; $15
Runs through: Feb. 13
The romantic comedies of Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux ( 1688-1763 ) broke fresh literary ground in the France of Louis XV. Marivaux took his plotting and characters from older, familiar stock types of Italian comedy, but he elevated his young lovers from wealthy bourgeoisie to the noble class, and placed in their mouths elegant, witty and moving expressions of courtly love. At the same time, he provided room for rollicking and saucy servants.
Indeed, Marivaux's twisted plots ( 'The path of true love ne'er did run straight,' wrote Shakespeare ) often had servants and nobles trading places allowing Marivaux to drop pointed and liberal ( for that era ) remarks about society's hierarchical structure, the power of attraction, and marriage outside one's class. He called it a contest between reason and love. Being of the nobility himself ( although impoverished through bad investments ) , Marivaux saw to it that reason and love found each other by play's end so the proper social order was preserved.
All these familiar Marivaux elements are on display in The Game of Love and Chance, in which four solid lead performances elevate the show above obvious budgetary limitations. Those performers are Cathleen Bentley and Matt Holzfeind as the noble lovers Silvia and Dorante, and Betsy Zajko and Scott Hamilton Westerman as the servants with whom they change places. Bentley and Holzfeind ( of late, the lead horse in Camp Nimrod for Girls ) make their elegant prose sound perfectly natural, and give an edge to the restrained eagerness that produces the play's palpable sexual tension. As the clowns, Zajko and Westerman both are funny and appealing, with Westerman particularly skillful at comic takes, leers and physical business descended directly from the lazzi of the commedia dell'arte. As Silvia's father and brother, Ron Turner and Miles Polaski competently complete the cast. Director Chris Pomeroy is a careful editor, never showing his hand in an obvious way, but clearly understanding the play's emotional swings and its contrast between farce and comedy of manners.
Pomeroy and his cast do well despite the near absence of props and furniture in this rather barebones Game of Love and Chance. One hungers for scenic and costume elegance—or at least sophistication—that Reverie Theatre Company hasn't been able to give the show. This is an observation more than a criticism, given the realities of Off-off-Loop production budgets. Costumer Jana Anderson at least finds some wit within the limitations, especially in the foppish outfit for Polaski and the ribbon-and-flower festooned 10" hairpieces for the ladies. The set by Tony Adams—vine-covered garden walls—is neutral at best. But by placing the principal playing area up two steps, it puts the tall Holzfeind at risk of bumping the lighting instruments, which is distracting and awkward.
