Forgotten Parisian playwright Pierre Marivaux is kind of like the French Shakespeare. While there is are many reasons that the British bard is better remembered, Marivaux’s plays are worth your time and attention.
Largely ignored in their own time (mid-18th century), both Harlequin Enlightened by Love and La Dispute deal frankly and humorously with the logical disconnects of romantic expectations in imperial France. While Harlequin lampoons the idea that one can be forced into love by threats and coercion, La Dispute tackles the philosophy of attraction and gender interaction in a clever, forward-thinking way.
Directed by Paul Babiak, the Grad Centre’s production of Harlequin improved steadily as the action progressed. Jessica Goldstein, who played the love-hungry princess, was able to project an atmosphere of draconian intolerance with her shrill commands, while Chala Hunter was sweet and alluring as Harlequin’s true romance.
Playing the title role, Dimitry Senyshyn conveyed a great presence on stage, showing a marked change after meeting the Shepherdess, but he sometimes made too much out of his high-pitched clownish laugh.
The three different sets were nicely represented by rotating hand-painted backdrops, and the bouncing puppet sheep were a great amusing touch as well.
By far, Harlequin’s roughest moments came right at the beginning, while the Princess was venting her frustration at Harlequin’s idiotic indifference to her romantic advances. While this exposition is necessary to provide the appropriate backstory to the audience, the action on stage seemed inconsequential and repetitive. However, this minor flaw was soon forgotten as the plot began to explode with passion and fury.
La Dispute, directed by Laura MacDonald, illustrates the culmination of a royal experiment in which four teenagers are raised in complete isolation and then suddenly introduced to one another to settle an old bet about which of the sexes would be the first to be unfaithful. The scene is one of clownish self-discovery and primary interactions as the teenagers get to know one another, and eventually pair off into affectionate couples.
Highlights from La Dispute included Toby Orr’s splendid performance as Mesrin and Roxanna Vahed’s hilarious rendering of the greedy and self-centered Egle. As with Harlequin, there were a few slow-moving moments in La Dispute which seemed to stretch the audience’s attention, but these always dissipated quickly as some new element or twist was introduced to the fray.
Despite minor flaws, the Marivaux Project was successful in providing a colourful and interesting journey into some of the best historic comedic theatre that has gone largely unaddressed by the mainstream.
