Chester Theatre Company, Chester, MA
through August 26, 2012
by Robbin M. Joyce
Chester Theater Company concludes its 23rd season, “Uncommon
Love Stories,” with the regional premiere of Dipika Guha’s “The Betrothed.”
This unusual love story, directed by CTC’s Artistic Director Byam Stevens, is
presented in the Commedia Dell’Arte style and has the feel of a middle-eastern
fairy tale in which magical realism abounds.
The staging, designed by Vicki R. Davis, sets the cartoonish
tone and the music and sound effects by Tom Shread reinforce it. As the play
opens, Simon is en-flight, sitting in the middle seat and talking to his
invisible seat mate. It’s an utterly amusing monologue that reveals he’s going
to the Old Country to meet the woman to whom he’s been betrothed for 30 years.
As he arrives at the home of his beloved, the stock characters
typical to Commedia Dell’Arte begin to appear: the old hag, the lothario father
and the lustful priest. What unfolds is a wacky love story with all the twists
and turns of a gnarled walking stick.
Chad Hoepnner stars as Simon and is endearing as the naïve,
eager suitor. Caitlin McDonough-Thayer is a delightful dichotomy, easily
shuffling characters from the ugly, hunchback crone to her cold, beautiful
daughter and back again. John
Shuman entertains as both the potion-making, gender bending Priest and the
nearly silent best friend of Simon’s father. Anderson Matthews rounds out the
cast as both the woman-stealing father and Simon’s future son.
“The Betrothed” is presented in a single, 90-minute showing
without an intermission. It starts out strong and interesting, with comic
moments that engage the audience; but the action slows down mid-show. Is this
love story meant to have a moral like so many fairy tales? What is the social
commentary? The audience is left wondering as the play comes to its conclusion.
Perhaps the moral of the story is: in this case, magical realism is neither
real nor magical.
