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“The False Servant” by Marivau Payan Theatre 300 W.43 St. Aug 24-26 @ 9pm and Aug 27 @ 3pm
The play «False Servant» is yet another example of enormous versatility and enormous talent of the Off-Off-Broadway scene in New York. Written by the 17th century French playwright Marivaux, it is truly timeless and just as applicable today as it was three hundred years ago. Its adapted translation, written by Martin Crimp, is similar to Russian translations of Shakespeare – modern, relevant, and easily understandable.
In fact, the dialogues rival in humor and wit those of Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw. The tale of a girl who dresses up as a man to test her suitor is probably as old as theatre itself (and still can be very funny), but it’s the dialogue that makes it so enjoyable. The acting is great too: the stage sextet delivers on the usual spectacular level of hungry Off-Off-Broadway and miles above the usual cellophane crap of “70-Years-And-Running” Broadway shows. The cast is well selected, and everybody does a good job, especially the lead actress, Chevalier (Anais Koivisto), and the main conman, Lelio (J. T. Arbogast). Rajesh Bose, an actor of Hindu origin that plays Harlequin, a servant, looked a little miscast in the beginning, because his accent was bringing undesirable allusions to gas station attendants and grocery shop keepers, but his energy and his humor soon won me over. The show has two flaws: a totally unnecessary and overly long concluding scene with flashlights is completely out of place and the theater is extremely cold, with AC blowing on eleven, so bring a sweater!
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