The LaSalle Players' second show this year is Moliere's "Lovers'
Quarrels" and is a fast paced farce in the style of Shakespearean comedy.
The show was written in 1656 and was Moliere's second full-length play in
verse, and it is a complex comedy animated by deception and
misunderstanding. A young woman, Ascagne has worn masculine disguise since
childhood, for the sake of an inheritance that would otherwise go to the
household of young Valere.(Her friend Frosine describes it in the classroom
by drawing on a blackboard.) Ascagne loves Valere, who is a suitor of her
sister Lucille, and cleverly manages to marry him in a midnight ceremony.
Valere believes that his veiled and unseen bride is Lucille. Valere's
manservant Mascarille is similarly deceived and, under pressure, conveys his
misinformation to Eraste, a young man who jealously loves Lucille and is
loved in turn by her. The ensuing quarrel between Eraste and Lucille lasts
until the fourth act, and is paralleled by the quarreling and reconciliation
of Gros-Rene (the actor usually wears padding to make himself fat) who is
Eraste's valet and Marinette who is Lucille's maid. George Saintsbury, a
British historian and critic who wrote for the Saturday Review, wrote of
"Lovers' Quarrels" that "Nothing so good had been seen on the French stage
as the quarrels and reconciliations of master, mistress, valet, and
soubrette." It goes without saying that the final act sees Ascagne's true
sex revealed and that Valere's response to that is "love and wonder.'' Three
of the actors must portray 2 fathers and a teacher in this show and do so
wonderfully. LaSalle Academy in association with Brown/Trinity Consortium
have been offering 10 master classes throughout this school year with
members of the resident professional company. In addition to the
collaboration with the resident company, Jesse Geiger, a third year MFA
candidate at the Brown/Trinity Consortium is guest directing this show with
three guest designers in set, costume and sound design. Jesse who hails from
Chicago, sets the show in contemporary time in a high school with his
talented high school cast of 11 students ranging from freshman to senior
playing these eleven roles very successfully. He presents the show in an
hour and fifteen minutes with the students and crew bringing on the props to
change the scene and locale. The production is easily understandable to the
audience and students with each cast member symbolizing a different type of
student found now and in the past. Jesse's direction is excellent and the
manipulations of the characters and their love and deception of each other
is cleverly portrayed, making an old chestnut of a play fresh and new again
for modern day audiences.
The show starts off with the announcements over the loudspeaker and
follows the students from homeroom, to classroom, to lunch, to gym class
with the center doors being used for the home of Albert one of the father's.
Jesse gives the students enough clever shtick to use while playing these
broad characters as they do pratfalls, swordplay and hurl lovers gifts back
to their suitors. The use of imitating the vocal speaking of male by female
and vice versa is brilliantly done. Jesse is aided in his task by the three
guest artists. The set design of Patrick Lynch consists of two sets of
lockers on either side of the stage with swinging doors in the middle and
a lime green and white checkerboard stage platform which is like a
chessboard with the characters manipulations and mood swings as well
as partner changes. A clever added touch is the stringing up of some paper
airplanes at increasing larger sizes above the playing area which almost
everyone made when they were in school. The breathtaking, gorgeous 17th
century costumes are by David Costa-Cabral with the girls gowns standing out
with their bright colors. Another comic touch is that the boys wear sneakers
and white socks with the period costumes. The sound design is by Freida
Abtan who is a Canadian multi-disciplinary artist and composer currently
working on her doctorate at Brown University. The authentic school sounds
are so natural especially the basketball sounds in the gym scene. The
lighting design is by Mrs. Elissa Pensa Cerros with tech director Mr. Craig
Schutz and vocal coach, Mr. Thom Jones. The show runs smoothly with the
stage managing skills of Justin Reis.
The talented high school cast is lead by pretty blond haired Ailey
Wilder playing the woman disguised as a man part of Ascagne. She lowers her
voice when speaking to others as the male but when she describes her love
for Valere to Frosine, she uses the female sounding voice. Ailey's entrance
onstage has her walking in like a man but giving Dan Tracy who plays Valere
a loving glance. Her revelation scene at the end is handled beautifully with
the lovers reuniting and kissing profoundly. Dark haired senior student
Daniel Tracy who played Trevor Greydon in Millie in December, plays
Valere, the school Romeo wonderfully. He struts into the first scene with a
cigarette dangling out of his mouth and his argument scenes with his valet
and his rival are well done especially the sword play. Pretty blond haired
junior Gabrielle Whitney plays Marinette, Lucille's maid who delivers a love
note to Eraste, a hot headed suitor who is jealous of Valere's popularity.
(Marinette is a play on marionette with the character controlling other's
destinies) Gabi is feisty in her scenes with her romantic interest Gros-Rene
who is well played by Matthew Smith, a freshman who wears a pad under his
costume to make him look fat. (Their funniest scene is when they give back
their gifts to each other including a paper clip and a stale piece of
cheese.) Beautiful brunette Allison Russo plays the popular girl, Lucille
who has two boys chasing after her, doing a topnotch job while doing so and
giving the arguments back to each of them wonderfully. She also has a
gorgeous soprano singing voice which I heard her use as Miss Dorothy in
Millie. John Smith, a senior, is dynamic as Eraste. He delivers the goods
whether he rages on after thinking Lucille has married Valere or threatening
Mascarille with his sword. Mascarille, a play on the word masquerade, is
wonderfully played by sophomore Matthew Kilduff who quakes in his boots as
the cowardly, nerd of the show who drops his books on his first entrance. He
gets to utter some funny lines including "Love is an ass". When he is
threatened by Valere, he runs to Lucille's father, Albert to explain things
with everything being misconstrued by Lucille and him. Frosine is
beautifully played by statuesque brunette, Molly Allen who is a senior
who will be going to St. Mary's College in California in the fall to study
theatre. Her revelation to Ascagne of her really being Lucille's sister
after thinking she isn't, is one of her funniest moments. The three students
who play the older roles do excellent work, too. Freshman Colin Whitney is
hilarious as Albert who makes Ascagne pretend to be a boy to steal an
inheritance from Valere. He walks with a cane, wears knickers with no socks.
Senior Daniel Squizzero as Polidore enjoys pulling the wool over his son
Valere's eyes during the final revelation scene and is a hoot as he and
Colin chase each other to explain the marriage of Lucille to Valere isn't
true. Last but not least is senior Vincent Lee as the teacher who spouts
Latin phrases to an exasperated Albert in one of the humorous scenes.
Vincent played Bun Foo and Colin played Ching Ho in Millie and are old hands
at making the audience laugh. Another outstanding feature is that the
students perform this show without needing microphones. So for a look back
at how a seventeenth century play can given a fresh outlook to make it more
easily accessible to 21st century audiences, be sure to catch Moliere's
"Lovers' Quarrels" before time runs out.
"LOVERS' QUARRELS" ( 5 to 7 March, 2009)
LaSalle Players, 612 Academy Avenue, Providence,
RI
