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Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008

PCPA’s ‘The Imaginary Invalid’ updates Molière’s 400-year-old classic farce

PCPA’s ‘The Imaginary Invalid’ updates Molière’s 400-year-old classic farce

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Molière’s “The Imaginary Invalid,” an old French classic, has been given a new setting and a new translation by PCPA Theaterfest’s Patricia Troxel, but it retains the comic sensibility of its 17th century origins.

Molière’s plays spawned centuries of farces, and this one is a lesson in the history of comedy. Instead of France this production is set in Colonial America, with the idea that American audiences could better relate to it. Whether that’s true or not, the setting does allow for some great costumes of the time.

The excellent cast, directed by Roger DeLaurier, adopts the exaggerated mannerisms and intentional silliness of the Italian Commedia dell’Arte style to tell the story of Silas Argan, a miserly hypochondriac who decides to wed his lovely daughter Abigail to a physician so that he will have free health care. But she has fallen in love with the handsome Nathaniel.

Meanwhile, Abigail’s stepmother is plotting to disinherit Argan’s two daughters so that she can inherit his money. The plot and style are similar to today’s melodramas, but this one is all dressed up.

All of the action takes place in the elegant parlor of Argan’s home, and the set is lavish and stylish, with painted draperies and vast bookcases. Argan sits in his chair, coughing, moaning and figuring out his medical bills.

Most of his medications are for purgatives and enemas, apparently the fashionable treatment of the time, so there’s lots of bathroom humor, with much talk about bowels and a couple of scary contraptions for enemas. His physician is Dr. Flushing.

Guest artist William Youmans, who has a résumé that includes Broadway shows and television roles, plays Argan with comic relish as he goes from debilitated (when others are around) to athletic (when they’re not). His body language is comical, and he takes some pratfalls. Ultimately self-centered and foolish, he’s funny enough to be almost likable.

Catalina Maynard, another talented guest artist, plays Prudence, the insolent and insightful maid. She powers the plot as she sizes up the situations and the key players and then becomes a key player herself.

The style becomes slapstick when Argan introduces Thomas Dickinson, his choice for Abigail’s husband, and his mother, the widow Dickinson. Colum Parke Morgan really hams it up as the obnoxious Thomas, whom his mother describes as “not the brightest spark.” Leslie Brott is a kick as the widow, a motormouth who doesn’t let anyone else get a word in. Vanessa Ballam is the lovely Abigail, who is given the ultimatum to marry Thomas in four days or enter a convent. Tobias Shaw is Nathaniel, the one she wants to marry. They are both good in their straight roles, as is David Meyers as Argan’s brother, who tries to talk some sense into him.

The convent is the idea of Argan’s wife, played as deliciously greedy by Gwendolen Morton. Erika Olson is cute as Argan’s younger daughter, Lucy.

The dialogue is laced with spoofs of doctors and lawyers (not much has changed in over four centuries). The doctors wear black robes and “wigs of state” that look like blond afros. They appear in a sort of chorus that recites rhymes about the profession.

The costumes are elegant, especially those of the men in colonial garb —other than the doctors and Argan, who wears a bathrobe throughout. Cheryl Odom is costume designer. Heidi Hoffer designed the opulent set.

This is a piece of theater history, produced with flair and talent. There is a moral of sorts about selfishness and family, but the comedy, like the play, is definitely dated, and not everyone’s cup of tea (not mine, for one).