“The Guardsman”

Posted by Gail M. Burns - July 2010

Tour-de-farce at BTF

by Deborah E. Burns*

It must be every acting couple’s dream – to face each other in a sparkling comedy utilizing a full range of emotions, personalities, accents, and quite fabulous costumes. At the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Ferenc Molnár’s The Guardsman offers Jayne Atkinson and Michel Gill such a dance, and they make the most of it in a generally fast-paced and colorful tour de farce.

It’s a light-hearted exploration of acting and the theatrical life, but it also offers a slightly cynical insight into the challenges of such a life. Both the Actor and the Actress are addicted to the heightened passions and dramatic ups and downs they’re used to onstage; neither is satisfied with everyday emotions.

Molnár (1878-1952) himself was married to an actress, Lili Darvas. He wrote The Guardsman at the turn of the 20th century for the magnificent Vigszinhaz Theatre, the cultural hub of the newly prosperous and cosmopolitan world of his native Budapest. The play premiered in 1910 and arrived in New York in 1924 as a vehicle for Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, who made a film of it in 1931.

The Actor and Actress – a theatrical couple “beloved in Viena” — have been married for only six months and the marital themes of trust and power are already fully at play. The Actor has become obsessed with his wife’s possible infidelity, cataloging the cliches of an affair: she plays Chopin, she sits in a dark room and daydreams, she hides letters, she weeps when alone. He, meanwhile, has never been so in love before. He feels he is a cast-off lover, ridiculous, weepy, absurd. “It would be the end of me,” he says.

He devises a preposterous scheme to test her fidelity in the only way he knows – by playing a role. He has conjured up what he imagines to be her ideal lover – a Russian guardsman (the furthest thing from an actor) – and he becomes that character with fastidious attention to every detail. Michel plays the Actor as a fluttery featherweight, and the soldier as the complete opposite – stiff, heavy, bombastic, manipulating his sword and flipping the skirts of his scarlet uniform with swagger and ultimate masculine confidence.

In the first act the power lies with her. She is restless, commanding, yet playful as a cat with a mouse. She could be simply toying with her husband or seeking romantic fulfillment with his alter ego – or both. Atkinson‘s regal yet comic presence reminds one of Meryl Streep or Vanessa Redgrave.

Yet when she interacts (hilariously) with the Guardsman, especially in Act II at the opera, she yields all power to him – she bends toward and away from him, her voice takes on a different tone, she becomes indecisive, unsure of herself. Will she yield? The Actor, in fake beard, nose, and wig, must battle between striving to prove his point and desperately wanting not to succeed, and the audience loves it, fully on his side. Gill’s craft is especially admirable as he portrays these two very different men so effectively that we search our programs for the seventh actor.

In Act III the Actor reveals himself as the Guardsman; now he can unite the opposing qualities of forcefulness and sensitivity. But will she now submit to him? And does he want her to? Both enjoy the argument and the intensity; both want life to be more like art.

The supporting actors (Mary Louise Wilson, Richard Easton, Stephen deRosa, and Tara Franklin) are sensitive and extremely funny. For me a puzzling question was the role of “Mama” (played by Wilson), the Actress’s bristly and quirky mother, who serves as housekeeper and sometimes menial wretch, by turns wise, whiny, shrill, and nurturing. Her bright red hair suggests an earlier stage career but otherwise seems off-key. She has moments of great sensitivity, as she interprets her daughter’s emotional state as the beginning stage of love:” She’s alive again.” And then she adds, “She’s nice to me because she’s nice to herself.”

The costumes are quite sensational: the Actress’s sensuous, slightly theatrical gowns, his switch from elegant, subdued dressing gown to over-the-top soldier’s uniform. The set is also glorious – gorgeous cobalt wallpaper crammed with gilt-edged paintings, a grand piano up in back, a sensuously shaped sofa, and so on. The second act takes place in a box at the opera, which might resemble the Vigszinhaz Theatre.

In all, a satisfying emotional romp and a showpiece for a half-dozen gifted actors.

Click HERE to see the full production photo gallery.

The Guardsman runs through July 31 on the Main Stage, located on Route 102 in Stockbridge, MA on the campus of the Berkshire Theatre Festival. The show runs two and a half hours with two intermissions. For information and tickets call the box office at 413-298-5576 or go on line to www.berkshiretheatre.org.

* Deborah E. Burns (no relation to Gail!) is a published author, a singer, a playwright, a director, and an historian. She works as an editor at Storey Publishing and will appear in the ensemble of Our Town running July 28-August 8 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. She was kind enough to fill in during Gail’s recent illness and cover this production of “The Guardsman.” As always, it is a pleasure to have Deb’s astute opinions appear on the site.

• 
• 
• 
•