I've long been a fan of the Théâtre français de Toronto. In fact, when artistic director Guy Migneault addressed the audience before last night's season-opening performance, I was shocked to realize the company is now in its 45th season, since I so clearly remember writing about the 20th anniversary.
The TFT gives Toronto audiences a unique opportunity to hear French-language plays performed – and very capably so – in the original words. Whether the work is by Quebec's Michel Tremblay, a new Franco-Ontario playwright or some master of the classic stage, nothing beats hearing it in French. As a particular fan of Molière, I am always especially happy to see the TFT tackle one of his scripts, and last night I got to see his Les fourberies de Scapin (which translates, less mellifluously, as "The Deceits of Scapin"). Almost the last play the great playwright ever wrote, it sees the master joyfully working the business of traditional Commedia dell'Arte, with two sets of young lovers, a pair of disapproving fathers, a duo of scheming servants and a couple of long-lost children.
The company has pared the classical three-act comedy down to a lean one-acter by means of some clever strategems worthy of Scapin himself – such as turning one onstage character into a mere note delivered anonymously via a fishing line. A couple of other minor characters have been dispensed with entirely.
As a nod to the conventions of 17th-century production, which would generally have included original music and lavish dance numbers, this production includes several interpolated songs, ranging from opera to folk songs, and including some snippets of Molière's dialogue sung to familiar tunes. Although it doesn't add much of practical value to the storytelling, it's a pleasant touch, rather like powdered sugar on strawberries.
This trim amusement is no longer set in Paris of 1671, but on a beach in a dream world based on post-WWII France, with blue jeans and espadrilles; however, the elderly fathers wear clothes that suggest the 1600s (or 1700s) and antique white wigs (the work of Alice Norton, whose much more contemporary hairstyles for the other characters add a lot to the whimsical visual appeal of the production).
The tight pacing makes for a show that's over before you know it. In fact, it left me wishing I'd seen a bit more of a few characters, especially the tall, emotive and funny Phillipe Van de Maele Martin, who plays the anxious lover Octave like a cross between Danny Kaye and Tintin. Those characters who do get a lot of stage time (the fathers: Robert Godin and René Lemieux and especially the servants: Sébastien Bertrand as Sylvestre and Nicolas Van Burek in the title role) are consummate professionals who are a pleasure to watch. I dare say their portrayals will only improve as they get to fine-tune the timing and gesture in front of live audiences.
Important to note that the TFT started to use surtitling a few years ago, which means that certain performances show the text of the play projected unobtrusively over the acting area as each performer speaks his or her lines. Beginning with just a few nights of each production, the company has now secured enough financial support that about half the performances will be surtitled in this run. Combined with the expressive direction, the surtitles mean that even someone with no understanding of French at all now has access to enjoying this classic of the world stage in a short, sweet production with a great deal of charm.
Les fourberies de Scapin runs at 26 Berkeley Street (upstairs) until November 10. Tickets are available online or by telephone at 416-534-7303.
Photo credit: Marc Lemyre. Robert Godin as the foolish father Argante, standing above (left to right) Sébastien Bertrand (Sylvestre) and Nicolas Van Burek (Scapin) in the Théâtre français de Toronto prodution of Les fourberies de Scapin.
No comments:
Post a Comment