"Utterly Confused In the Maze of Love"

Excerpted from the review by Naomi Siegel
Sunday, July 31, 2005

"What is so rare as a day in June?"

A glorious July night, perhaps-air refreshingly clear, the azure sky deepening slowly to black. On such a night, nestled within the lovely stone amphitheater of the College of St. Elizabeth here, "The Triumph of Love," an outdoor production of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey directed by Craig A. Miller, leaves most people in its multi-age audience smitten.

Written in 1732 by Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux, this delightful convoluted romp among the loveless and lovelorn is one of the playwright's rare works to receive regular performances in the United States. Bonnie J. Monte, artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre, has translated and adapted the play for this production, and has succeeded in keeping the dialogue sparkling and its classic elegance intact. Yet the play's voice is refreshingly contemporary.

"The Triumph of Love" has been called a heroic comedy. The hero, or rather heroine, is Leonide, Princess of Sparta. Played with grace...by Mandy Olsen, Leonide is the daughter of a usurper of the throne.

Determined to set right her father's past injustice by seeking out Agis, the rightful heir (Geoff Wilson, in a sweetly ingenuous performance), she falls passionately in love with the handsome young man upon her first secret glimpse.

The princess decides to marry her "prince," but first she must gain entry to the house of his guardians-the "philosopher" Hermocrate (a suitably pompous Brian Dowd) and his dour, prissy sister Leontine, played brilliantly by putty-faced Pamela Vogel. Sister and brother eschew love and have vowed "never to share our retreat with anyone."

Leonide, in male attire and using the nickname Phocion, makes each of the guardians fall in love with her. (Point of clarification: Hermocrate knows that he is dealing with a female.)

While opening Agis to the possibility of loving the woman he has long been taught to despise, Leonide also teaches the others to find a way to follow their hearts.

Mr. Miller has directed skillfully, giving each of his gifted cast members room to create show-stealing comic portraits.

Alison Weller is delightful as Corine, valet to the princess. She plays to the house with shameless abandon, and it works splendidly. Greg Jackson, a very resourceful actor, turns his leering lecherous Harlequin, a servant in the house of Hermocrate, into an endearingly funny rogue. That leaves Bryan Cogman in the role of Dimas, the estate's gardener. Mr. Cogman doesn't miss a chance to infuse each entrance and exit with an applause-inducing move.

The Baroque garden of the scenic designer, Jesse Dreikosen, beautifully lighted by Danielle Almeida Wilson, features topiaries, statues and an empty fountain, perfect for pratfalls. In a site that is itself perfection, this charming stage setting is an added bonus.

© The New York Times

Reviewed by Robert L. Daniels

Monday, July 25, 2005

In the spacious amphitheater at the College of St. Elizabeth, a summer evening under the stars with the giddy delights to be found in "The Triumph of Love" is a most comforting theatrical escape. In a sparkling new translation by Bonnie J. Monte, Marivaux's farce has a rippling, infectious effect on the picnicking audience.

Monte's accessible adaptation accents the giggly abundance of malapropisms that mark the cunning wordplay. Director Craig A. Miller adds to the fun by giving the actors delightful bits of business and pacing the comic antics with a keen hand. "Triumph" usually is performed in three acts, but the absence of an intermission provides a comfortable flow.

Mocking the snobbery of a 16th-century aristocratic society and the folly of courtship, an accidental princess, disguised as a man (Mandy Olsen), ensnares the affections of a pompous philosopher (Brian Dowd) and his stoical virginal sister (Pamela Vogel) to gain the affection of a rather skittish young heir to the throne (Geoff Wilson).

The crafty princess bribes a giddy valet (Greg Jackson) and a raunchy gardener (Brian Cogman) to aid her in her amorous plight. All the players are expansively expressive with the fanciful language and the broadly comic gymnastics. Olsen is an exceedingly lovely schemer in the game of love. The matronly maiden and loveless guardian played by Vogel boasts the kind of flighty, funny breathlessness that was the specialty of the late Mildred Natwick.

The gardener is a boorish and vulgar nuisance, acted with amusing vigor by Cogman, while Jackson 's comically conniving manservant primps and poses with flourish and flair. Dowd's reluctant suitor has a pompously foolish air.

An amusing gimmick finds the actors freezing in midsentence to gaze with wonder and awe at the frequent roar of overhead aircraft.

The luscious set design by Jesse Dreikosen is a garden of delight with its potted plants, leafy hedges, stately statuary and fountains. [Amy] Ritchings' elegant period costumes beautifully complement this ravishing garden party.

© 2005 Reed Business Information