Review: THE LUCKY CHANCE at Head Trick Theatre

With its production of THE LUCKY CHANCE — Aphra Behn’s 1687 comic farce about the perils of arranged marriage — Providence’s Head Trick Theatre showcases what it does best: staging nimble productions of classic plays that cast stark light on the slim distance between “then” and “now.”

The play features two pairs of young lovers whose unions are thwarted by the machinations of rich old men. Belmour (David O. Weber II) returns from banishment to find that his lover, Letitia (Aidan Costa), believes him dead and — after a long, relentless “courtship” — has reluctantly agreed to marry Sir Feeble Fainwoud (Amy W. Thompson). Meanwhile, his Best Friend Gayman (Blanche Case) pines for his lover Julia, who was recently married off to the local alderman (Sir Cautious Fulbank, played by Ryk McIntyre). As the lovers use their wits to thwart these arranged marriages — and the conjugal rights that, in 17th century England, they would confer — the play elicits laughs while critiquing those powerful men who never heard a “no” they didn’t trample on.  

Under Rebecca Maxfield’s adroit direction, this centuries-old play comes to life in AS220’s barebones blackbox space. Exchanges are well-paced and carefully blocked, and the performances are both sharply articulated and nuanced: each character registers as both a legible comedic “type” — as is the way with Restoration-era work — and a messy individual making troubling decisions within the limited space that class and gender norms would have afforded them. 

Among the skillful cast, Julian Trilling is a stand-out as Lady Julia Fulbank, using subtle expressions and inflections to convey her character’s considerable wit, and Blanche Case exhudes cleverness and charisma as Julia’s lover, Gayman. And as Letitia, Aidan Costa deftly balances the play’s absurd comedy with its inherent darkness: while his facial expressions and physical gestures evoke laughs, he also treats his character’s grim circumstances seriously. 

About those grim circumstances: THE LUCKY CHANCE is a comedy, and Head Trick’s production finds its humor at every turn, whether in a well-timed gesture, pregnant pause, or outrageous sight-gag. At the same time, it’s a play about women being forced to wed men against their wills, and about the specter of marital rape that subsequently haunts them. The genius of Aphra Behn is in her ability to make us laugh — uncomfortably — at deeply troubling sexual dynamics without soothing our unease. Centuries may have passed, but the rank desires of powerful men still feel disarmingly dangerous. Hats off to Head Trick for letting us laugh at these old emperors while exposing them for what they always are: naked as the day is long.   

THE LUCKY CHANCE runs through October 24 at AS220’s Black Box Theatre, located at 95 Empire Street, Providnce, RI. Tickets are $30 or free with a Brown ID, with a pay-what-you-can performance on November 21. Reserve tickets online at https://www.headtricktheatre.org.

Photo courtesy of Head Trick Theatre.

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