‘The Miser’ @ Stolen Shakespeare Guild
—Jan Farrington
One of the joys of theater-going is the increasingly hard-to-find experience of “rotating rep”—a company running two plays at once (it could be more, but that’s even rare-er) with a cast who “cross over” to appear in both. Frequently, the lead actors in one piece show up in smaller roles for the other. It’s tremendous fun for the audience and the actors, who get to show off their range of skills.
Such was my grin-inducing experience of seeing Stolen Shakespeare Guild’s production of Molière’s The Miser (1668) within a day or two of attending their Antigone (441 BC)—both part of a two-play Classics Festival directed by SSG co-artistic directors Lauren and Jason Morgan.
As just one example, actress Cory Carter in Antigone plays the title character’s sister Ismene, a timid young woman who wouldn’t think of disobeying the king’s law. She is loving and sweet, but Antigone’s strength and will just aren’t in her. In The Miser, Carter plays the quick-witted Frosine, a clever and fearless “arranger” (for fun and profit) of other’s lives—clearly a DNA cousin of Dolly Gallagher Levi.
Molière, much like Shakespeare, wrote his plays for a company of actors he knew intimately—and in The Miser (a role he wrote for himself as his health was rapidly heading south), you can feel how much he trusts them. He gives the actors a plot packed with comic situations, keeps the language straightforward (amusing but not distracting), and sets them free to play.
I won’t waste too many words on the story line—it’s impossible to diagram the thing. Enough to say that Harpagon, the “miser” in question (Allen Walker), is a well-off old man with a buried cashbox, and habits so stingy he drives both servants and grown children completely crazy. Pulling a franc from his fingers (for a decent meal, for a new set of clothes, for a dowry his pretty daughter should have to marry respectably) would take an amputation. Son Cléante (Garrison Roller) and daughter Élise (Ashley Hawkins) each have a “love interest”—but so does their Dad, who’s put Frosine on the trail of Marianne, a wealthy young woman in the neighborhood. Never too late, he thinks, to add more money to the cash box by making an advantageous May-December marriage.
Unhappily, Marianne (Cheyenne Haynes) is the girl of son Cléante’s dreams too.
Oops.
Walker (soothsayer Teiresias in Antigone) gives a funny and very well modulated performance as Harpagon. He seems a rather calm, alert old fellow, until he’s not—when money takes over his thoughts, his face purples and he curls into a crouch, teeth bared like a tiger. Haynes (a wonderful, fierce Antigone) uses that same vibrant energy as Marianne to portray a vivacious young woman who isn’t going to be pushed into marriage with this dreadful old man—especially when his son is the one she wants. Ashley Hawkins as Élise wields a different (but equally useful) set of skills to get her way: she’s a champion wailer and a wonderful physical comic, whether miming “digging” for her father’s buried treasure or draped over a “pouffe” (that’s an ottoman), arms limp and shoulders shaking with sobs.
The “boys” do very well—both Hunter Wilson-Leal as Valère (masquerading as the household steward to be close to Élise, though we hear he’ll turn out to be “somebody”) and Roller as Cléante show some talent at conniving—and Brian Davis is funny as a Coachman/Cook (Harpagon is very, very cheap) whose loyalties are, well, nonexistent.
And Steven Young (the raging, ranting King Creon of Antigone) makes a very different but equally impressive last-act appearance as a character who blasts through the chaos to make some happy endings…happen.
Lauren Morgan’s 17th-century costumes are a wonderful eye-full: frills and laces, buttons and bows, and oodles of brocade and color. Skirts swish, bosoms heave, gentlemen swash and buckle. The first half ends with a sudden meeting of eyes—gasp, is that the girl/boy I love??!!—and it’s not giving away too much to say that the silent movie era would have approved the wild chase (every single cast member on the run) that occurs in the second half.
Confusion is sorted, long-lost folks are found, hearts have their way, and (wouldn’t you know) there’s even a bit about pirates. And Harpagon stands tall at the end, alone with the love of his life: his money.
For maximum interest (and fun), I’d see them both.
WHEN: The Miser/Antigone playing October 6-22, 2023
WHERE: Fort Worth Arts, 1300 Gendy St. (Museum District), Fort Worth TX
