Funny and Sexy: Austinist Reviews Our Perfect Woman The Rivals
First, a little mea culpa for ya. (And a warning to all ye who intend to see this show, or Austin Shakespeare Festival's other production, Richard III) The show starts at 7:30, and not 8pm, as we discovered when we arrived, ehem, twenty minutes late. An egregious faux pas. Our bad.
Anyway, on to matters that actually have to do with our experience at the Austin Playhouse, where we witnessed the funniest production we’ve seen thus far in 2006. Restoration comedy rules! (Note: to honor the ever-so-wordy style of Restoration comedy, we have relied heavily on our trusty thesaurus for the remainder of this post)
Actually, restoration comedy is a labyrinthine, ball-busting undertaking. It’s hard to produce, hard to direct, hard to perform, and if it’s not done well, hard to watch. (This is probably why you almost never see it produced in smaller markets like Austin) But with Ian Manners and Guy Roberts at the helm, ASF’s production of Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals is full of pleasantly pithy dialogue, gloriously glib asides to the audience, and one knee-slapping, belly-jiggling, hearty guffaw after another. We don’t even like “classical” theatre, but yet we still managed to laugh…hard.
This potboiler objet d'art revolves around the deceptive Captain Jack Absolute, who has convinced a super-hot young noblewoman, Lydia Languish, that he’s just a poor Ensign named Beverly! (Lydia gets off on that sort of thing) Of course Lydia’s preponderant aunt, Mrs. Malaprop, is totally pissed that Lydia has the hots for (who she presumes to be) some penniless loser, so that’s a problem. But then, Absolute’s equally over-bearing father, Sir Anthony Absolute, promises Mrs. Malaprop that his wealthy son Jack will marry Lydia. But wait – if Lydia finds out that Jack is Beverly and Beverly is Jack (and therefore not penniless after all), its curtains on the whole affair! (Hi-jinx ensues). Continued synopsis (including some funny sub-plots) can be found on the ASF website.
Credit for the success of this chortle-fest belongs to the affable actors. While there were a few week spots (after missing thirty minutes of their performances, however, we feel it's unfair to mention these actors by name), the fantastic show put on by ASF’s more experienced company members greatly overshadowed any missteps by the younger thespians.
Let’s start with Matthew Radford. Holy flapdoodle! Where has this man been, and why haven’t we seen him before? He is fantastic as Captain Absolute. He’s believable, committed and utterly watchable – not to mention his fantastic English accent and superb comic timing. Then there’s Guy Roberts (ASF Artistic Director), who’s whiney, childish Faulkner eloquently runs the very fine line between creating an annoying character that we love to watch, and an annoying character that’s, well…annoying. Rounding out our favorite men is the riotously jocular Rob Matney as Acres – his uncanny ability to truly inhabit the buffoon was a perfect foil to Radford’s poised Absolute. (Notable male actor mention goes out to Geoffrey Brown, who, as always, delivers his one-liners with skill and pinache!)
As for the ladies, Andrea Osborn as Lady Languish is clear and compelling as the object of all man’s affection – a well placed, well grounded performance amongst a world of over the top characters. And, lastly, Bernadette Nason, who’s performance as Mrs. Malaprop was hilarious – dead on and truly classic.
So, want to see some hot talent? Wanna laugh? See ASF’s The Rivals, running through March 19th in rotating repertory with Richard III at the Austin Playhouse. Visit ASF online for more tickets and more information.
Photo courtesty of Mike Swope at
