CINCINNATI ACTOR'S STUDIO & ACADEMY

Molière with Masks: Unmasking CASA’s Production of

Molière’s The Learned Ladies

 

By Alan Jozwiak

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            One of the delights of the Cincinnati theater scene is when theater companies produce little-known plays by major playwrights.  For the last play in the Cincinnati Actor’s Studio and Academy’s (CASA) Summer of Classic Comedies, CASA chose the French playwright Molière’s little-known comedy The Learned Ladies.

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The Learned Ladies concerns a group of society ladies aspiring to be cultured intellectuals.  Philaminte (Katie Tierney), and her daughters Armande (Haley Gillman) and Bélise (Amber Smith), spend their time contemplating philosophical verities and being dazzled by the intricate wordplay of the pedant Trissotin (Grace Wesson).

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By contrast, Philaminte’s other daughter Henrietta (Meg Griffin), is not interested in intellectual pursuits and falls in love with her like-minded beau Clitandre (Julie Deye).   Philaminte has other plans for Henrietta and schemes to have Henrietta marry Trissotin, over the protestations of her hen-pecked husband Chrysale (Alena Firle). 

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            Director Cheryl Couch makes two bold decisions in directing this production.  First, Couch cast an all-female cast of high school and college students, as well as female actors from the greater Cincinnati theater community. This casting worked at highlighting the feminine ethos within the script and gave voice to the feminine in a way that would not have happened with a mixed gender cast.

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Using female adult actors in this production is a bit of a departure from regular CASA casting, which typically draws upon talented high school students across the region, as well as from graduated gap year students and college freshman/sophomores who come back to Cincinnati to work in theater.  This mixed aged casting further strengthened the production, since Molière’s script can be challenging for younger actors, with it being text-heavy with intricate wordplay.

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            Second, under the leadership of Costumer Finney Kutcher (newly graduated from high school and who intends on studying acting at Columbia College in Chicago in the fall), the period costumes were complimented with matching masks and corsets (for the female roles) and matching masks and vests (for the male roles) to denote a character’s inclination towards intellectual endeavors.  Learned ladies like Philaminte had masks and corsets made from book pages.  By contrast, the false scholar Trissotin had a mask and peacock feather pin on his vest to symbolize his excessive external show of knowledge.

 

            Kutcher does a fine job with the masks and matching corsets/vests.  Because of their size, it was hard as an audience member to get a full sense of the intricacies of the masks. It would have been nice if they were on display after the show to see up-close the care that was taken to craft them.  In terms of the costuming apart from the masks and matching corsets/vests, my only quibble with the costuming was that there needed to be richer fabrics for the older characters.  Since older characters were sometimes being played by younger actors, it would have helped clarify the social status between different characters.

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            This production was quintessentially an ensemble piece, with worthy performances by most of the performers.  Armande (Haley Gillman, a rising sophomore in the NKU Musical Theater department) and Henriette (Meg Griffin) open the show with a strong scene which sets up some of the basic conflicts that they will have within the play.  Clintandre (Julie Dye, who is going to Wright State to study acting in the fall) also provided a strong performance as the lover protests his love for Henriette.  Ariste (Eliza Martin) was also strong as her character tries to help her brother Chrysale (Alena Firlie, a student at NKU majoring in theater) unite Henriette and Clintandre.

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            Perhaps the one actor which stole the show was Leanne Hays, who plays the role of Martine the kitchen-maid.  Hays added a note of earthy levity to these high-blown intellectual women. Martine has some rather saucy lines and some very un-PC lines about husbands beating their wives in order to keep them in line.  While these lines are painful for modern audiences, Hays’ delivery avoided the audience from excessive cringing.

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            My only complaints about the production come from the nature of the Richard Wilbur translation of this play.  Wilbur’s translation of the play tended not to identify the different characters while they were talking.  Being unfamiliar with the play, it took me a while to piece together the relationships between the different characters. Since there was also young actors playing older characters, there weren’t the normal contextual clues when actors are more age appropriate.  

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Molière’s play also involves sustained concentration, as the audience needs to listen closely to the wordplay so as to understand the action on the stage.  This play was not an English comedy of great guffaws, but more of a polite chuckles dependent upon the audience closely listening to get each chuckle. 

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One thing which I did greatly appreciate was the dramaturgical information provided by John Ray posted up in the lobby explaining the French political background of the time of Molière, as well as explaining some of the meanings behind the characters’ names.  A few tidbits from this information include that Philaminte’s name has two possible meanings—“lover of the truth” and “one who defends.”  Also, the name Trissotin means “three times stupid” and was inspired by Abbé Cotin, a poet and scholar of the 17th century.

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In closing, this was a rare chance to see a solid production of a little-produced Molière play.  Since it only ran for one weekend (August 3-6), the production is unfortunately closed.  However, add CASA onto your summer theater radar for next season.  They have a proven track record of delivering thoughtful, engaging, and provocative material.

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