Oscar Wilde wrote that “in matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.” TheatreWorks’ production of “Theophilus North,” now playing at the Lucie Stern Theater in Palo Alto, is a stylish bit of theater that comes off just as clever as it intends.
The play is set in Newport, Rhode Island in 1926 among the Gatsby-era rich. It follows the heady young Theophilus, a would-be writer struck with wanderlust and stuck in Newport, and makes a chronicle of his misbegotten triumphs and ruddy misadventures with the townspeople. There is, it seems, an unsettling divide between his cosmopolitan ambitions and the prosaic reality of his existence.
A tidy summary of the proceedings might be helpful at this point — but the play has very little in the way of a linear plot. What is essential to it is not so much what happens — in fact, very little happens — but rather what is said, what goes unsaid, and the delicate interplay of the characters. The story unfolds as a series of vignettes that fit neatly together, bound up by recurring metaphors, motifs and its ever-present protagonist.
Linear plot or no, the intellectual predilections of the play’s author, esteemed American dramatist and novelist Thorton Wilder, and its adaptor, first-time playwright Matthew Burnett, are glaringly obvious: The characters quote Goethe, Henry James and Shakespeare in turn. But such lofty musings are tempered by a wry wit and the oft-employed ironic aside. What passes for highbrow, it turns out, is nearly always tongue-in-cheek.
What’s fantastic about “Theophilus” is certainly not its philosophical allusions, nor its plot, nor the passably profound reflections of its title character. It’s the clever dialogue, the jesting and jiving of the minor players, the understatements, the asides, the subtle gestures, the spot-on accents, the stop-action sequences, the scene setting and, finally, the mood lighting.
There’s something technically brilliant about the production, and the immediate effect is hilarity — a stylish sort of hilarity. The audience laughed and applauded throughout, and some were even heard to gasp, “How clever!”
“Jig-o-lo,” says Mrs. Cranton, smirking, “that’s French for dancing partner with ambition!”
But the play isn’t simply funny, it’s also beautifully executed.
The acting is phenomenal, with the six players from the supporting cast in costume as the sexually repressed teenager, the eccentric shut-in, the acid-tongued wife, her philandering husband, the dreamy innocent, the unflappable servant and quite a number of others. While some of the roles come off as caricature, often of the comic variety, the complexity of conversations and relations never diminishes.
There’s also much to be said for the setting. Michael Palumbo’s lighting design is elegant and suggestive, his fluidly shifting backdrops giving color to the players’ moods.
The play’s first scene opens with a backdrop awash in blues and a singed sort of orange. Sunset turns to dusk, and the long silhouette of a single bough snakes across the screen, its branches evoking the stark brushstrokes of a Japanese print. As the play advances, shadows ebb and flow along with it, the backlights blurring like watercolors as the actors make lines in the foreground.
Then there’s the set itself, which is strikingly simple. Its classic design, alongside the clever work of the lighting and sound teams, results in seamless transitions between scenes and a production that complements, rather than overwhelms, its cast.
The seven players make the most of their set, describing in lilting turn the scenes they inhabit; mimicking in jest the props they haven’t got — in one instance, a Model-T Ford. It’s a gimmick, but it focuses the spotlight on the acting and the dialogue, where it belongs.
Near the end of the second act, Theophilus muses that life in a small town is “variously beautiful, absurd, impressive, commonplace …” The same words might just as aptly describe his play.
INFORMATION:
What: Matthew Burnett’s “Theophilus North,” produced by TheatreWorks
Where: Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto
When: Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m. (8 p.m. only Aug. 11), Sundays at 2 and 7 p.m. (2 p.m. only Aug. 12), through Aug. 12
Cost: Tickets are $21-$57, with discounts for youth, students, seniors and members
Info: Call (650) 903-6000 or visit www.theatreworks.org
