1812's French farce 'To Fool the Eye' fails to fool

A French pastry of a play, To Fool the Eye is the latest production in 1812 Productions' season. Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation of Jean Anouilh's 1940 romantic farce, called Leocadia in its original French, is directed by Jennifer Childs and produced in partnership with Drexel University's Mandell Professionals in Residence Project at the Mandell Theater.

The title, "to fool the eye," is, more or less, a translation of trompe l'oeil, the technique in visual art that creates illusions that trick the viewer, making it hard to tell what's real and what's illusion.

This semi-explains the plot: Prince Albert (the excellent Michael Doherty) fell in love with a glamorous opera diva - the Leocadia of the title - who three days into their whirlwind romance was killed by her own scarf (apparently having neglected to read Isadora Duncan's "Safety Tips for Scarf Wearers").

In order to comfort the grief-stricken Albert, his vastly rich aunt, the Duchess (Maureen Torsney-Weir) buys the entire village where the lovers met and has it reassembled on her estate. Following the Duchess around like a basset hound is her cousin Hector (played by David Howey, whose eye rolls got the night's biggest laughs).

When the Duchess discovers a modest milliner who is Leocadia's look-alike (Amanda Holston), she hires her to impersonate the late love object. Well, one thing leads to another, and you can easily imagine the rest. The trouble is that Holston makes almost no distinction between herself and herself playing Leocadia - a missed opportunity for trompe l'oeil acting and some much-needed entertaining virtuosity.

One of the advantages of a university partnership is that a show has a lot of free talent to draw on - not only in the cast (there are five starched butlers in some fancy precision blocking), but backstage, too. The program lists 30 people on the carpentry crew, and 17 more on electrics. This results in an extravagantly furnished series of sets, although there again was a missed opportunity: There is nothing trompe l'oeil about any of it.

My favorite part was Brian McCann's head butler, whose imperious finger snaps seem to control the whole show.

Presented by 1812 Productions at Mandell Theater, 32d and Chestnut Streets, through March 3. Tickets: $22-$38. 215-592-9560 or www.1812productions.org.

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