Review: The Imaginary Invalid by Mary Moody Northen Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin would not have objected at all to this re-do of his 1673 farce. He wrote The Imaginary Invalid in rapid-fire prose, using verse only for comic ballets at the intervals (omitted in this staging). David Chambers' translation/interpretation of the piece follows the action faithfully, although often with slangy word choices. Between them, Chambers and director David Long apply a clownification of the characters and a Borscht Belt leer not obvious in the original texts.
David Long has a good time, sending the characters zinging along. Some of his direction recalled those presentational techniques he used last year for bobrauschenbergamerica -- marking soliloquies and the young lovers' mock operetta with rapid, showy shifts of lighting, for example.
Argan, the title character played with fine finicky flair by veteran actor Richard Robichaux, is a rich hypochondriac with two daughters. Their mother passed away and Argan remarried -- to an effusive gold digger determined to persuade him to deed his property to her. Chambers renders this character -- Béline in the original -- as "Nastya," played by the charming Jill Blackwood with a patently fake Russian accent. Argan is determined to marry off his elder daughter Angelina (Michelle Elisabeth Brandt) to a physician so that he'll have free medical care, but she has already fallen in love with another (Cléanthe, played by Jon Wayne Martin).
Robichaux has lots of grumpy one-liners, mostly insults. His perpetual antagonist is Toinette, the servant, but he also gets into it with physician Thomas Diablo (Robert Faires), with Cléanthe, and with his brother (also played by Faires). In contrast and to our great amusement, the hypochondriac goes all goo-goo eyes with wife Nastya and gets entirely panicked by the rages of his principal physician Dr. Defecato (Meredith Montgomery).
The playing space in the square at the Mary Moody Northen theatre is a challenge both to directors and to actors, for they have to play to spectators at all four cardinal points of the compass (for example, I was seated in row C, South). The players remained entirely in that central square for this production, assuring good sightlines for all. Audience reaction was enthusiastic, and at some points in the first act lines from Martin and Brandt went missing under sudden bursts of laughter. Kendra K. Pérez as Tonette the servant deserves special praise for her timing and precise articulation, qualities particularly important for a comic character who needles, interrupts, and serves as a chorus.
The sex farce elements added some contemporary spice, pushing up the mockery a notch. Nathan Brockett as the proposed physician/son-in-law is a lout as in the original but he's also a would-be seducer; Chambers gives Nastya "big boobs" (obliging Blackwood to wear a heck of a push-up bra); and the young lovers at the happy finale are going at it hot and heavy, shedding clothing.
The funniest scene in the show, however, is played between hypochondric Argan (Robichaux) and his younger daughter Louison. Diminutive sophomore Sophia Franzella is one to watch. Chambers sets it up in the text with references to Louison as a "fruitcake" and costumer designer T'Cie Mancuso tells you it's coming with her astonishing confection in stripes and fantasy for Louison. Franzella has this single scene in which her papa Argan interrogates her about the love antics of her sister, but it's a cajoling, beguiling knock-about success, greeted by spontaneous applause.
The Imaginary Invalid will be frolicking at St. Ed's through this coming weekend. If you ever thought that French drama was boring, this one will certainly prove you wrong.
Review by Avimaan Syam for the Austin Chronicle, September 23
Review by Ryan E. Johnson for examiner.com, October 7
EXTRA
Click to view program of The Imaginary Invalid at St. Edward's University
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The Imaginary Invalid
by Molière, adapted by David Chambers
Mary Moody Northen Theatre
