'Misanthrope' fabulously set in the gay club world
Mauckingbird Theatre Company, new kid on the block, offers for its debut production at the Adrienne's Second Stage a very accomplished and very enjoyable Moliere comedy, a Misanthrope of much charm and style. Transposing the foppishness of 17th-century French high society to the fabulosity of the gay club world, director Peter Reynolds makes this all-male production make surprising sense.
Mauckingbird Theatre Company, new kid on the block, offers for its debut production at the Adrienne's Second Stage a very accomplished and very enjoyable Moliere comedy, a
Misanthrope
of much charm and style. Transposing the foppishness of 17th-century French high society to the fabulosity of the gay club world, director Peter Reynolds makes this all-male production make surprising sense.
The misanthrope of the title is Alceste (Dito van Reigersberg), whose disgust with the world's kissy-face hypocrisy keeps him in a permanent state of arm-waving outrage. Unwilling to flatter and play the social game, he embroils himself in legal aggro as those he criticizes take umbrage and sue; he often looks like a man who has painted himself into a corner. (Van Reigersberg is best known not only as a member of the avant-garde troupe Pig Iron but also as the drag queen Martha Graham Cracker; there is some amusing irony in casting him as the most masculine and most straightforward of the group.)
At the center of this viciously gossipy world, adored by all, is Celimene (Evan Jonigkeit), the reigning queen. All bedroom eyes and honeyed talk, he strings along his many suitors; his immense self-satisfaction is hilariously evident when he slinks out, bare-chested, in a floor-length brocade robe. That he is the ludicrously unsuitable object of Alceste's love is the engine of the plot.
Bradley Wrenn is sweetly convincing as Alceste's modest, reasonable best friend, while Brian Cowden as the vain, powerful Oronte is superbly bizarre, with a faux-hawk and lots of eye-widening. As Arsinoe, the judgmental prude, Keith Conallen is divine, snapping his fan with great elan. The entire cast is strong, full of style and mischief, managing to be, if such a thing is possible, genuinely arch.
"Your uppance has now come," Alceste says mournfully. Who could resist a line like that? Ranjit Bolt's translation, a pastiche of contemporary and classical vernaculars, is filled with clever rhymes. The cast manages to create an elegant rhythm, with enough punch to the rhyming words that we get the witty pairings, and enough ease and grace that it sounds like human speech.
The costumes (designed by Marie Anne Chiment) are, likewise, a bricolage of old and new, courtly and urban - no curly wigs or buckled shoes, but opulent vests and cravats, and plenty of bling.
Mauckingbird Theatre Company's declared mission is to present gay-themed productions, and the result of choosing this play is to indict the gay world's superficiality and bitchy spite. But since Moliere provides a happy ending, Reynolds can show us the marriage of two sensible, loving gay men, who are, significantly, wearing no makeup.
The Misanthrope
Written by Moliere. Translated by Ranjit Bolt. Directed by Peter Reynolds. Sets by Meghan Jones, costumes by Marie Anne Chiment, lighting by Maria Shaplin, sound by Evan Jonigkeit.
Cast:
Dito van Reigersberg (Alceste), Bradley Wrenn (Philinte), Brian Cowden (Oronte), Evan Jonigkeit (Celimene), Patrick Joyce (Eliante), Cosimo Mariano (Basque and DuBois), Josh L. Hitchens (Clitandre), Jerrell Henderson (Acaste), Keith Conallen (Arsinoe).
Playing at
Adrienne Second Stage, 2030 Sansom St., through Feb. 2. Tickets $20. Information: 215-563-4330 or
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