Masquerading as someone else to gull your lover is a venerable theatrical trope. Shakespeare loved it (As You Like It, etc.), as did Oscar Wilde (Importance of Being Earnest) and multitudinous others.
And of course it’s familiar to contemporary audiences as the ever-reliable engine driving decades of TV sit-coms.
Such time-honoured trickery surfaces in The Guardsman, now being revived by Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. The 1910 farce by Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnar examines jealousy and the politics of marriage.
Never heard of Molnar? For many the name will be unfamiliar, although he enjoyed wide popularity in his day. The Guardsman was a Broadway hit in 1924 starring Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontaine. Molnar’s also known for his play Liliom, later reinvented as the musical Carousel.
Victor (David Sklar) and Helene (Cherise Clarke), a married couple, are celebrated stage actors. Helene is beautiful; however Victor is aware she previously dumped lovers at the six-month mark after getting bored. They’ve been married for six months and he’s now developing Othello-grade suspicions.
With this in mind Victor decides to masquerade as a handsome young guardsman and woo his wife. Success will provide evidence that (1) he’s a pretty good actor, and (2) the marriage is doomed.
This kind of fidelity-testing deception has a familiar ring. Happily Molnar, an admirer of Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, had the wit to add a layer of psychological complexity to his tale. We laugh at the broad humour… we also leave the theatre wondering (as the playwright intends) if it’s possible to truly know one’s significant other. And perhaps people in general.
Blue Bridge has mounted a credible production. Some — as I did — will find The Guardsman (adapted by Bonnie Monte) overly wordy, with Molnar often embracing exposition over action. That said, director Kevin McKendrick enjoys some success in overcoming this, mostly by adding physical shenanigans.
Victor jabbers about his dress-up plans to pal Dr. Mazai (Ben Francis) with loquacious gusto before finally becoming the guardsman 40 minutes into the show. Aware such a talk-fest might have a soporific effect, the director enlivens things with stage business. He has the men converse while standing on a chaise-lounge, for example. Victor then finishes his soliloquy with his noggin jammed in the lap of an embarrassed Dr. Mazai.
The show is peppered with comic shtick. A maid grunts with Lucille Ball zeal while lugging heavy trunks. When Helene receives roses she lifts them over her head like a matador. The most inspired physical sequence is when a bickering Victor and Helene engage in a back-and-forth tango that perfectly mirrors the fractiousness of their relationship.
The overall tone is heightened. Sklar makes Victor a Jon Lovitz master thespian and, of course, the guardsman (red-and-yellow uniform, ridiculous mustache) is even more over the top. His performance Thursday night at times seemed at odds with Clarke’s acting style, much more restrained and naturalistic. Her approach might work well in another context — yet here it sometimes seemed flat and lacking in verve.
Victor ultimately confronts Helene about encouraging the guardsman’s advances. Spoiler alert: Helene counters that she knew it was Victor in a costume all along. Indeed, in a virtuoso feat of gas-lighting, she not only convinces him of this — she has him apologizing for doubting her.
The play concludes with Victor and Dr. Mazai congratulating each other on the fact all’s well in the world. Meanwhile, a melancholic Helene (here Clarke’s subtle acting style works wonderfully well) gazes out the window yearningly. And we suddenly realize that (1) Victor isn’t exactly the sharpest adze in the tool shed, and (2) the marriage is far from happy. It’s a startling and remarkable theatrical moment that imbues The Guardian with complexity.
The play continues at the Roxy Theatre to July 16.
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Theatregoers may want to mark their calendars for Absinthe, Bourbon, Vodka and Sake. This new drama by award-winning Calgary playwright Caroline Russell-King is about a jaded veteran playwright with ulterior motives who tutors the teenaged son of a wealthy businessman.
Staged by Bema Productions, it’s directed by Zelda Dean and stars Christine Upright and Ryan Kniel. The show runs July 19 to Aug. 6 at Congregation Emanu-El. Tickets are available at bemaproductions.com.
