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Dates and Venue June 5 – 28, 2015 at 8pm | Jericho Arts Centre, 1675 Discovery Street Director Michael Fera Music Director Pat Unruh Choreographer Jessia Au Costume Design Jackie Talmey-Lennon Lighting Design Randy Poulis Set Design Todd R. Parker Stage Manager Susan Currie Reviewer Maria Figueiredo The Imaginary Invalid at the Jericho Arts Theatre is a brilliant United Players production. The costumes, the singing, the distinct voices and performances are spectacular. The added drama of actors appearing in the audience and behind, gave me a feeling of being right there with the 17th Century French gentry, making the past so vivid in one's presence. One could experience the expectations and farce of the aristocratic way of life as well the selfish ambitions of a hypochondriac father. Argan being played by Moliere (John Prowse), is a miserly gent afflicted with countless imaginary maladies. The irony is that Moliere himself is extremely sick with TB, but he, the talented actor portrays the mind of a man imagining illness and requiring expensive concoctions. The dubious doctor orders plenty. Argan is convinced that the best way to cure his ills and stop the expense of paying for his medicines is to marry his daughter off to a rich but insecure, newly-graduated doctor. To heighten the dramatic and ironic contrast between a man who thinks he's sick and one who is genuinely very ill, director Michael Fera elects to set the production on a specific night -- February 17, 1673 -- with Moliere in the role of Argan collapsing on stage just a few hours before his death. The amazing and talented cast each reflect the acting of the period not only with the spoken language of the times but also with their mannerisms, the musical instruments and singing. The actors conform easily to whatever the play entails as when Beline (Victoria Bass) changes so flawlessly from playing the cello in baroque style to acting as the conniving wife of Argan. Prowse is mesmerizing as Argan, Cruz as the clever Toinette gives a powerful performance. Olesia Shewchuk as Angelique with her melodious soprano voice and Cleante (Cody Kearsley) bring to life the blithe of many young lovers of the times when fathers decided on the fate of their children, especially of their daughters. Many of the issues, Morliere touches on still exist in modern times. Only they are less rampant. They reflect on how women are treated almost as possessions with not much say on the outcome of their lives, the challenge of not over-medicating and building trust in the medical profession, the advantages of wealth and the subtle influences of the servant class. The presence of music is both story-driven and evidence of Moliere's brilliance in producing comédie ballets. Jackie Talmey's lovely costumes add great impact to the scenes. The green attire of Argan dying on the floor shows vividly how the superstition that green brings bad luck to actors could have originated. Except for the opening scene which seemed to be a bit confusing, the play ran smoothly brimming with satire, music and quick-witted prose. This is a clever
and amusing performance that will keep the audience captivated and entertained.
Accolades go to the actors and the production staff. © 2015 Maria Figueiredo |
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United
Players Reviewer Elizabeth Paterson Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid was written in the last months of his life yet is bursting with high spirits and irony mocking disease and doctors. No self-medicator, Argan (John Prowse), a successful businessman and hypochondriac, has hired a doctor to diagnose and treat all his illnesses with tried and true remedies - no believer in the circulation of the blood for him. This doctor, Mr. Purgon (David Wallace), is nothing more than a quack who supplies Argan with extracts, tinctures, purges and pills for ridiculously high fees. Argan sees a way to escape the expense by having a doctor in the family and plans to marry his daughter Angélique (Olesia Shewchuk) to a young medical student, Thomas (J D Dueckman). Thomas is the very stupid son of a friend of Purgon and Angélique has already lost her heart to Cléante (Cody Kearsley). Luckily for the young lovers, Argan also employs a clever servant and with the help of Toinette (a lively Maria J. Cruz), Cléante is introduced into the household as a music teacher. Antoinette also works on the other household problem - Argan’s young second wife, Béline (Victoria Bass) who, despite loving protestations toward Argan, is plotting to steal his money. Also assisting Angélique and as well trying to enlighten his brother about both the doctor and his wife is the lawyer Béralde (Brad Bergeron). Eventually, after arguments from Béralde and high jinks from Toinette, Béline is exposed, the lovers may marry, and Argan gets a quickie medical degree himself. There are many types of deception in this play - self-deception on the part of Argan, criminal deception by the doctors, innocent deception by Cléante, guilty deception by Béline, wily deception by Toinette. In addition there are the artistic deceptions of 17th century theatre - the conventional words of flattery to the king which with the play opens, the formal Interludes, wholly artificial landscapes of shepherds and shepherdesses singing and dancing in a pastoral neverland and Commedia dell'Arte characters who leap in and out of the play, all set against a domestic comedy. In United Players' current production, there are at least two more. One lies in director Michael Fera's decision to build into the production a way of showing a modern audience how a company such as Molière’s worked. So we see our modern actors portraying Moliere’s French troupe off stage, waiting for the arrival of their magnificent King, Louis XIV. The other is Fera's setting the performance on the night of Molière’s death. The real Molière performed as Argan but collapsed off-stage at the end of the 4th performance and died at home that night. Thus John Prowse must play an ill man covering up illness who is playing a healthy man disguising health. On opening night he came close to pulling this off. The play works well when we are in Argan’s house and the actors can follow the well-known patterns of young love thwarted, clever servants deceiving, and foolish boobies prancing. Prowse and Cruz are particularly strong and several actors play nicely differentiated multiple parts. The set by Todd R. Parker is attractive, the costumes by Jackie Talmey-Lennon lavish, and Randy Poulis' lighting subtle. Molière's quicksilver, colloquial prose flows. More moving are the moments when the actors slip out of their roles to care for Molière who grows weaker as the play progresses. Intertwined with the play are the musical Introduction and Interludes and the grand finale, the Doctoral Ceremony, performed by members of this very talented cast. Pat Unruh’s music evokes the gorgeous, formal, courtly world Molière and his company inhabited. Victoria Bass, very good as Béline, positively shines as a singer and cellist. When Angélique and Cléante “improvise” an entertainment for Argan, Shewchuk’s technical mastery of the ornate baroque style far surpasses her supposed music teacher’s (Cody Kearsley) to good comic effect. When these threads, the courtly, the comedic and the realistic, come together, the performance is irresistible. The foolish Thomas entranced by the pastoral “entertainment”, for example, and especially the moving final moments will linger in the mind. Not everything in the production works as successfully, but this is an ambitious project, largely well-brought off. © 2015 Elizabeth Paterson |
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