The Game of Love and Chance
⊆ April 25th, 2006 by courtney | ˜By Juliet Moser
The Game of Love and Chance – Folger Shakespeare Theatre
Peppered with verbal bon-bons, Steven Wadsworth’s new translations of Pierre de Marivaux’s The Game of Love and Chance at the Folger Theatre leaves audiences with a slight stomachache from ingesting too may linguistic sweets. Game begins with the same culprits as every other love farce from the 18th century: a witty and eloquent Silvia (Tymberlee Chanel) deigns to accept her father’s spousal choice for her only if she is allowed to swap places with her maid Lisette (Tonya Beckman Ross) in order to better observe her potential mate during his initial visit to the household. However, little to the women’s knowledge, Silvia’s suitor (Matthew Montelongo) enacts the same plan, trading outfits and titles with his valet. Silvia’s father Orgon (Timmy Ray James) reveals these simultaneous plots only to his son (James O. Dunn) - and the audience - and giggles his way through the young couples’ follies.
Unfortunately, the production suffers from a lack of editing: overly long and self-important monologues and joking asides that quickly lose their novelty appeal. Wadsworth’s sharp and entirely modern translation is complimented by those actors, mostly Ian Merrill Peakes and Ross, who take liberties with the period dress and setting of the show by adding snarky gestures or non-verbal interactions such as purring to indicate desire. Director Richard Clifford missed his chance to bring this démodé tale into the twenty-first century, as the translation would have been better served by a more contemporary staging.
In keeping with this somewhat uneven meshing of old and new, the set (Tony Cisek) of Game is an abstract stucco-covered amalgam painted a fresh green. Two staircases hug the small Folger stage and brocade panels add a decidedly Old World touch.
As the bumbling valet Harlequin, Peakes makes the most memorable entrance of the show by simultaneously prancing and parading down the central staircase, resplendent in gold and maroon pantaloons and ballooning flaxen cuffs. His entrance provides an energy-drink jolt to the show, ratcheting up the pace and physicality as well as providing Ross’ transformed maid (she herself piled with enough ruffles and flowers and fur-topped shoes to make a drag queen blush) with the comic sparring partner she needs.
The audience knows how the show will end from the beginning, but Clifford allows Wadworth’s translation to take a circuitous route to arrive there, leaving the audience wishing that dinner could have ended before dessert arrived.
