Who's Who? Arms and the Man

                Fuzz Roark, executive director of The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre, welcomed the audience for a performance of George Bernard Shaw's "Arms and The Man" by summing up the play thusly: "It's about civility and manners and war."

                Quite correct.  It is a play reminiscent of Shakespeare's comedies in that mistaken identity plays a role...though not in the manner you (or the Bard) might think.

                Everyone knows each other well enough. No one mistakes anyone for being other than who they are...however, many mistake each other for WHAT they are, and therein lies the often farcical energy which drives the play.

                Amelia Adams is Raina, the beautiful and seemingly refined and proper daughter of Catherine (Sherrionne Brown) and Major Paul Petkoff (Dan Stacier). There's a war on, with the Bulgarians and Russians (and the Petkoffs) on one side, and the Austrians, Serbs and their mercenaries,including one Swiss captain, Bluntschli (Michael Leicht), on the other.

                Seeking escape, Bluntschli finds himself hiding in Raina's bedroom. Bluntschli's pistol is empty, but he is armed with something far more dangerous as Raina learns--an intelligence that strips away Raina's façade of decorum and high manners. As Bluntschli--well named, for his straightforward admissions (what sort of professional soldier is quick to cry and admit he keeps chocolates in his cartridge box?) would be considerEd Blunt in "polite society"--can see Raina for her true self, the seeds of love are sown.

                Of course, that means trouble for Sergius (Andrew C. Macomber), Raina's betrothed, a veritable community in a dress uniform, as he sees himself as fool, coward, hero, buffoon, gentleman, a'flush with high ideals--"I never apologize!" "I never withdrawal!" -- which he continually abandons.

                Sergius and Raina play the perfect couple, like a bride and groom atop a wedding cake, each blind to the other's deception.  Wisdom lies in Bluntschli and in those lower on the socio-economic scale, the Gloria Steinem-esque Louka (Bobbi Datz) and the uberpragmatic "soul of a servant" Nicola (Frank Vince) who would rather see Louka marry into nobility than marry him, "for that would make you only my wife and cost me money!"

                Sherrionne's Catherine and Stacier's Major Petkoff are comically opposed, for it is Catherine who "disciplines the troops" while the Major's bark is far worse than his bite.

                Director Brad J. Ranno and his creative team do a masterful job in bringing Europe of the late 19^th century to the Spotlighters' diminutive stage, creating a library "with electric bell," an ivy covered veranda, a bedroom complete with crimson drapes, and more. I especially liked how each scene would close and end with the characters frozen, as though in a photograph, as period music swept through the theater. It is as though one were pausing to stare at an illustration as one paged through an intriguing short story.

                As my play companion noted, "It's Shaw, so how can you go wrong?" It's clear the cast greatly enjoyed the wonderful parts Shaw created for them to play, each adding their own mark on the role.  Nearly delirious from lack of sleep, Leicht's Bluntschli wanders about Raina's bedroom in the first act, seeking danger as though it were a pet for whom he had a treat.  Adams is a tall tempest as Raina, her half-real, half-feigned indignation at perceived slights to her womanhood and station accented with squeals and high-pitched "hmmphs!!" that, were they any higher in pitch, only a dog could hear.

                Macomber plays the popinjay Sergius with puffed chest-and-Superman-styled-hair, head held high, face a smirk and then, in an instant, is downfallen, slumped, beaten as some less-than-appealing truth about himself is learned.  But Sergius embraces these truths, as do all the characters who learn something about their own true identities in this engaging work. Though 2½ hours (with two intermissions) in length, the play flew by as is the case when good words are met with fine acting and direction.

                "Arms and the Man" continues its run at The Spotlighters, 817 St. Paul Street, now through Aug. 1^st. For more information or for tickets, call 410-752-1225 or visit www.spotlighters.org.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.