Theater Review - Two gentlemen of soprano

Shakespeare Festival walks on Verona’s dark side

The Georgia Shakespeare Festival’s Two Gentlemen of Verona demonstrates the difference between a flawed play and a “problem play.” The latter term applies to those neither-fish-nor-fowl Shakespeare scripts like Measure for Measure, which don’t neatly fit into the categories of tragedy or comedy, and offer great ideas alongside nearly insurmountable quirks.?

?Gentlemen is definitely a comedy, but its problems are many, including a nearly uneventful first half and weirdly inconsistent characters, especially the two gents of the title. Director Tim Ocel, rather than gloss over Gentlemen’s frustrating aspects, addresses them head-on with a dark take on the material with more shadows than punchlines. ?

?Georgia Shakespeare Festival long has shown a flair for boldly designed concept productions, with Ocel’s moody Measure for Measure, set in Vienna after World War II, being one of the company’s finest shows. But the grim approach to Two Gentlemen of Verona only proves that you can’t take the play too seriously. ?

?Although the play takes place in Italian cities, the production’s modern-day setting may put you more in mind of Little Italy or New Jersey. Fathers and authority figures have sharp suits, cigars and sunglasses reminiscent of The Godfather or “The Sopranos,” with Bruce Evers coming across as a Mafia Don in a wheelchair. But the production doesn’t hinge entirely on gangster chic, with Janice Akers, as an earthy serving-woman, wearing trashy stretch pants over a pregnant abdomen. ?

?The play begins with young Valentine (a passionate Daniel May) leaving Verona and his lifelong pal Proteus (Brad Sherrill) to seek wider horizons. From the way Proteus’ face lights up at the sight of Valentine, it’s clear that the gentlemen’s feelings for each other go deeper than friendship, at least in this play’s interpretation.?

?Nevertheless, the first act follows each young swain as he woos a woman in the courtly manner, with lots of tedious fuss over love letters Proteus writes to Julia (Cynthia Barrett) in Verona and Valentine pens for Silvia (Park Krausen) in Milan. Valentine and Silvia have a cutely staged encounter while working out, with Krausen wearing brightly colored spandex. As the lovestruck Valentine, May has a funny moment as he wriggles into his jockstrap without removing his jogging shorts. ?

?Eventually Proteus visits Milan and meets Silvia, who plans to elope with Valentine despite the opposition of her father (a stern but crafty Chris Kayser). But Proteus is himself so smitten with Silvia that he decides to sabotage his friend’s plans and try to win her for himself. Meanwhile, Julia pines for Proteus and resolves to disguise herself as a boy so she can safely travel to her fickle lover’s side. After about an hour, the play seems to finally begin. ?

?The director gives the scenes a heavy, deliberate pace, which unfortunately draws attention to the plot’s thin stretches. Even Shakespeare’s figures of speech aren’t as impressive as usual here, as the text returns to “love is blind” metaphors that were probably pretty threadbare at the time of its original productions. We end up feeling more impressed by Ken Yunker’s lighting and Ramsey Avery’s sets, with much of the action taking place in dim alleys of brick and chain link. ?

?Ocel’s Gentlemen considers the painful aspects of situations typically played for laughs. The second act focuses more on Julia’s despair at seeing her beloved’s infidelity than the comic potential of her cross-dressing. Maybe that explains why, despite her tinted glasses and dreadlocks, Barrett looks nothing like a man. ?

?However, the play’s clownish characters still provide comic relief. Rob Cleveland mugs often to the audience as the servant Speed, who, true to his name, is a bicycle messenger with a garishly colored helmet. Tommy A. Gomez’s Launce is more of a baggy-pants vaudevillian who frequently plays opposite a huge, well-behaved bull mastiff that, not surprisingly, steals every scene, even given Gomez’s snappy comic timing. ?

?Gentlemen’s greatest piece of invention comes in the second act, when Proteus serenades Silvia, who’s locked in a tower a la Rapunzel. Sherrill is joined by four backup singers, who lapse into perfect boy-band crooning and choreography, all while keeping Shakespeare’s original verse intact. It’s an ebullient moment, delightful for being such a surprise, as if Gentlemen were a real comedy. ?

?But Sherrill also must bear the weight of the production’s more serious themes. His Proteus is buffeted by confusion and misplaced affections. He seems to attempt seducing Silvia out of a kind of jealousy, secretly outraged that Valentine could love another. Sherrill gives Proteus’ soliloquies a self-loathing that makes perfect sense, but the character is neither a tragic figure nor a likable, misguided protagonist. ?

?Two Gentlemen of Verona concludes with an attempted rape that’s forgiven almost immediately, with the female characters strangely removed from the reconciliations. The Georgia Shakespeare Festival’s staging goes a long way to “explain” these and other eccentricities in the play, without becoming a particularly satisfying or entertaining evening. At best, Two Gentlemen of Verona is an intriguing piece of literary criticism, illuminating a text by shedding darkness upon it. ?

?Two Gentlemen of Verona plays through Aug. 11 at the Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Conant Performing Arts Center, 4484 Peachtree Road, Oglethorpe University. Tues.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 8 p.m. $10-$32. 404-264-0020.