Review: White and Widdoes Keep 'The Circle' Rolling

Adults take pride in leading by example. A nanny instructs her child to bake cookies. A father coaches his son to shave. A mother schools her daughter-in-law the lessons of infidelity. Wait…?

The American Conservatory Theatre leads by its own example: Another fine-tuned 2 1/2-hour show loaded with eloquent language, maturity, and tight story-lines sewn by aged playwrights. And yet, with potentially-beefy topics of divorce and affairs, W. Somerset Maugham's comedy The Circle, stands by another more unfortunate example: Great actors as great characters in a not-so-great play.

Most of the "action" of The Circle takes place on a sofa in the middle of a well-decorated living room. The script's cadence is familiar to English comedies rerun on public television, with half an act of exposition. Arnold wouldn't mind his father coming home from Paris early, if only it weren't the same day he was to meet his mother – Lady Kitty – who left him and his father 30 years ago for another man. However, Arnold's wife, Elizabeth shows a reserved interest in Kitty and her scandalous past…especially while being quietly wooed by a Mister Teddie Luton.

What happens after "happily ever after?" Where can a budding love affair lead in three decades? Maugham's tale of marriage and temptation weaves around ever-changing characters, bringing family history full-circle.

The Circle provides the opportunity for two stand-out female roles; both so strikingly performed, to highlight one over the other would be foolish.

Kathleen Widdoes as Lady Kitty is exceptional, with a personality larger than the stage. Strutting heavily like a flamboyant red cockatoo, Widdoes embodies a boisterous yet perceptive mother eager to please, tease, and reminisce. Between her comic bouts, Widdoes succeeds in releasing Kitty's curious bits of wisdom. The subtlest of moments – like not knowing if her son takes sugar with his tea – carries significant weight in Widdoes' performance.

Having made a promising ACT core debut in Travesties last fall, Allison Jean White is glamorous and luminescent as Elizabeth. Light on her feet, in pearls and red-head bob, we learn quickly that (while keeping up appearances) she is less than a devoted wife. Almost ready to fly out of her marriage on Lady Kitty's feathered hat, White's ability to contain and release Elizabeth's anxieties and passions are catching and engaging. It doesn't feel immoral to be on her side, especially during her remarkably enjoyable scenes with Craig Marker (as Teddie Luton).

Marker and White create the most delicious comedic love scenes! Like a school yard romance! Marker is "ripping" as a disestablished businessman fond of humanity, nature…and Elizabeth. It is terribly adorable to watch him fail miserably in keeping emotion out of his "business-like" approach to express his love for her. We coo as they both fumble over words and begin to clumsily weep in happiness.

Dapper and long-legged James Waterston is entertaining as Arnold, obsessive-compulsive and quirky, doting more on his antique furniture than his wife. Waterston rolls snickers into sympathies as he grapples with the desperation of Arnold's situation.

Philip Kerr as Arnold's father, Clive, is devilishly amusing as he finds "malicious pleasure in goading" Kitty and her husband Lord Porteous into spits and squabbles. Always wearing a cynical but accurate smirk, he plays twisted games to keep the ball moving (in whose direction?) between the two couples.

Ken Ruta is entertaining as Lord Porteous, stomping his displeasure to this or that and groaning over loose dentures. Ruta's best scenes are opposite Widdoes, first at a chaotic bridge table and later during a charming reconciliation.

Nods are due John Arnone's dashing set design, with vast white arches yawning overhead. And York Kennedy's subtle lighting design delights as sunset hues melt into evening behind orange trees.

Still, while fine actors in fine roles earn deserved applause, they do little for an over-all drab script. Perhaps it was merely an issue with length and lack of on-stage movement, but (especially mid-season) there is a growing hunger for something "more" at the American Conservatory Theatre. The well will never run dry of aged retired patrons. But with talented young actors like White joining the company, it may be worth while to try some new and innovative material to lure in the younger audience.

The Circle: by W. Somerset Maugham, directed by Mark Lamos, at the American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco through February 4, 2007. 2hrs, 25mins with two intermissions. Tickets ($17.50 - $81.50) are available at 415-749-2228 and www.act-sf.org. The American Conservatory Theatre is located at 405 Geary Street in San Francisco. Photos by Kevin Berne.

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