{"id":6720,"date":"2017-07-14T08:23:06","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T12:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6720"},"modified":"2017-07-25T07:29:01","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T11:29:01","slug":"the-bungler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6720","title":{"rendered":"The Bungler"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

Kevin Isola & James Michael Reilly; photo by Jerry Dalia<\/p><\/div>\n

Moli\u00e8re\u2019s classic, but infrequently produced comedy about a lovelorn swain and his wily servant premiered July 8 at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey<\/a> and is on stage through July 30. The theater\u2019s promotion promises that \u201cif laughter is good medicine, then this show will cure all ills,\u201d and the production directed by Brian B. Crowe leaves the audience well-healed.<\/p>\n

Adhering to the strict requirements and principles of French Neoclassicism, Moli\u00e8re\u2019s first full-length play has a single plot that takes place in one setting, in a compressed time span. His characters reflect the conventions of their class (the principle of decorum) and their actions and attitudes are real, probable, and (mostly) believable (the principle of verisimilitude). Moli\u00e8re stretches those rigid rules, established by the redoubtable Cardinal Richelieu, as much as he can through the introduction of elements of Italian Commedia dell\u2019Arte. Many of The Bungler<\/em>\u2019s characters typify that tradition.<\/p>\n

In Messina, Sicily, the young L\u00e9lie (played by Aaron McDaniel<\/a>) falls for a servant, a ravishing gypsy girl (Sophia Blum<\/a>). Upper-class, but without financial prospects, he must contrive a way to free her from her curmudgeonly master (Eric Hoffman<\/a>). Alas, L\u00e9lie is not very bright, and relies on his valet Mascarille (a classic harlequin, played by Kevin Isola<\/a>) to develop some ingenious plan. Complicating the valet\u2019s stratagems are a formidable romantic rival (Sam Ashdown<\/a>), L\u00e9lie\u2019s upstanding father (Drew Dix), a money lender who could help out, wants to, then . . . (James Michael Reilly<\/a>), and his glamorous daughter (Devin Conway).<\/p>\n

All of these fine players (and others) eventually figure in Mascarille\u2019s clever stratagems, none of which are understood by L\u00e9lie, who at every turn foils certain victory. Although there is only one plot in the play (as required by Cardinal Richelieu\u2019s rules), Moli\u00e8re finds ever-more imaginative ways to set up and carry out the joke, which left the audience laughing uproariously in both anticipation and execution.<\/p>\n

Director Crowe keeps the action moving, thanks to his skilled players\u2019 exquisite timing and aided greatly by the many talents of Isola as Mascarille for both physical comedy and the on-point delivery of a line. McDaniel as L\u00e9lie, the perpetually confused yet inexplicably confident suitor, is a picture of bafflement. The set design by Dick Block is like a trip to the candy store, and Paul Canada\u2019s costumes are beyond beautiful.<\/p>\n

\"The

Sophia Blum, Kevin Isola, & Aaron McDaniel; photo: Jerry Dalia<\/p><\/div>\n

The STNJ used a translation of The Bungler<\/em> by Richard Wilbur, the nation\u2019s second poet laureate. Wilbur has won numerous awards for his translations, as well as his own work. The brilliance of his achievement is evidenced by the fact that, although the dialog<\/p>\n

proceeds in couplets throughout, this device never becomes tiresome. Instead, it repeatedly delights with its freshness.<\/p>\n

Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey produces an excellent know-the-show guide<\/a> for each production. Performances are hosted at Drew University in Madison, N.J. (easily reachable from NYC by train). For tickets, call the box office at 973-408-5600 or visit http:\/\/www.shakespearenj.org<\/a>. Note that STNJ offers special ticket pricing of $30 for theatergoers under age 30!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moli\u00e8re\u2019s classic, but infrequently produced comedy about a lovelorn swain and his wily servant premiered July 8 at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and is on stage through July 30. The theater\u2019s promotion promises that \u201cif laughter is good … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Bungler - Witty and pretty, Moliere's farce on stage at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[272,394,104,147],"tags":[1085,1082,1084,1083,1086,1087,553],"class_list":["post-6720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comedy","category-romance","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-aaron-mcdaniel","tag-brian-crowe","tag-cardinal-richelieu","tag-commedia-dellarte","tag-kevin-isola","tag-moliere","tag-shakespeare-theatre-of-new-jersey"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-1Ko","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6723,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6720\/revisions\/6723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}