Theater Review: The Learned Ladies

By Meredith Yarbrough

East West Theater seems to have taken up residence in the Pearl with the production of Molière’s The Learned Ladies: their third in the venue since its reopening last fall. The Pearl has gotten shinier and sleeker since its days as a cabaret club. With its plush red curtains and candlelight, it is the perfect venue for a night of theater. 

The Learned Ladies centers around Henriette (Awesta Zarif) and Clitandre (Jerome Mazet) who wish to marry but first must overcome the prejudices of Henriette’s pretentious mother, aunt and sister who have designs to match her with someone more learned: the questionable scholar and mediocre poet Trissotin (Micheli). Henriette seeks intervention from her uncle and father, the latter of whom lives in fear of his overpowerful wife. Molière relishes taking his satire to the logical extreme, and pokes fun at intellectual snobs through a series of long, dialogue-rich scenes that begin normal enough then bring us to the outer realms of absurdity. 

EWT's crew has done a phenomenal job in bringing us the full visual glory of aristocratic 17th Century France. After a slate of minimalist plays in Shanghai this spring, it is exciting to see actors in full petticoats and brocaded finery pulled together by Costume Designer and former Raffles Design Institute student Didi Dai. Towering above powdered faces are wonderfully outrageous and historically accurate powdered wigs done by Patric Purnell, the Senior Artistic Creative Director for Toni and Guy in Shanghai. Violet Mount’s ornate set with heavy furniture and baroque opulence is a perfectly warm and visually inviting place for a silly family drama. 

This is the second production for director David M. Johansson, who made a splash with his directorial debut in February of this year with EWT’s fun romantic comedy Almost, Maine. The Learned Ladies is a decidedly more challenging show and while there are several highlights and good solid comedy, there are also several shortcomings.

One of the reasons Molière's comedy has been continually popular and produced over three centuries is his blending of outrageous physical humor with sharp wit that remains applicable today. The balance between these two comedic forces is difficult to strike, and Johansson’s production is tipped far to the physical side at the expense of the humor written into the words. The actions and reactions of the actors are so big, their feelings so obvious in their exaggerated facial expressions, it robs the words of their relevance and robs us, the audience, of the opportunity to discover the characters’ motives through Moliere’s wit.

The extreme physicality of the actors borders on chaotic, and they seem adrift on stage when not speaking: fluttering about, stomping, head-shaking, eye-rolling, scowling, indignant mouth-opening, fidgeting from foot to foot, looking anywhere and everywhere, rampantly upstaging one another, marking every word spoken with instant and exaggerated reactions to the point of distraction for the audience and each other. 

With the exception of the father and uncle played by Mark Edwards and Dave Earl, who I will talk about later, no one seems to have made strong, deep character choices, reducing the characters to caricatures whose inconsistencies muddle the distinct individuals Molière has created. Every time Philaminte, the overstrong matriarch (Mirren Childs), Belise, her delusional sister (Helene Meunier) and Armande, her condescending daughter (Kate Billington) take the stage, I feel like I am watching the exact same character; no mannerisms or demeanor consistently distinguish one from the other, nor can I tell they are upper class when compared to the comportment of their servants. 

Henriette, the skeptical and grounded heroine, is different in her open disdain of vanity learning, but Zarif lacks variation in her performance. From the beginning to the end, she is overtly hostile and contemptuous, even in polite company that might better call for subtle dissidence. The result is she does little to make her character likable, and when she ultimately loses her temper with Trissotin, her unwanted suitor, it is neither compelling nor surprising. Trissotin cannot push her to the edge because she has been there the whole time.

This is a recurring trend throughout the scenes: there is no arc to the moods and speech of the characters. Instead they escalate with head-spinning rapidity then the actors have no choice but to stay at, and the audience no choice but to endure, these heightened states throughout the very long scenes. The yelling and hyper-exaggerations make the speech too heavy for nimble comedic timing and the actors must rely a great deal on slapstick and physicality for laughs.

Micheli’s portrayal of Trissotin has some fine, shining moments that are laugh-out-loud hilarious but overall he falls short as his prim mannerisms are not consistently strong, and he gets drowned out by the general bedlam of the ensemble. Mark Edwards as Chrysale, the father, is fantastic in his mouth-twisting, finger-wringing helplessness. He never drops his character choices and pulls off his character’s journey from doddering impotence to man of the house with expert subtlety. Dave Earl as Ariste, Chrysale’s brother and advisor, also stands out in his performance. Ariste is the anchoring voice of reason in a household gripped by absurdity, and Earl is an anchoring presence on a stage gripped by overactivity. 

There are many moments of pure comedic fun: the learned ladies’ orgasmic delight at Trissotin’s poetry, Trissotin’s stand-off with fellow poet Vadius (Philip Boafo) and the blubbering of maid Martine (Swati Simha) as her mistress berates her for poor grammar are just a few examples. The cast should be commended for maintaining high, engaging energy that powers us through nearly three hours of antics.  

David M. Johansson shows great potential as a director, and I would like to see him tackle a play of this sophistication again, once he has a few more shows under his belt. 

// June 18-23, 8pm, RMB150-200. The Pearl, 182 0216 4553, east.west.info@gmail.com.