The Beaux’ Stratagem by George Farquhar (review)

To witness a modern production of a Restoration play as vivaciously acted and as precisely directed as Antoni Cimolino’s The Beaux’ Stratagemat the 2014 Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, is to realize how relevant—not to mention how downright fun—eighteenth-century theatre can be to contemporary audiences. In act 1 of George Farquhar’s 1707 script, Archer and Aimwell have spent their last cent purchasing the elaborate equipages that will convince wealthy women to marry them (and fund their further adventures). In act 2, Aimwell describes his plan to turn wild rumours of his love for Dorinda into her sincere affection for him. And by act 5, the rakes have engineered not only the joyful marriage of Aimwell to his coquette conquest but also the even more joyful divorce of Dorinda’s ne’er-do-well brother, Mr Sullen, from his fed-up wife. Farquhar’s play about the pay-offs of speculation and the drive towards divorce has much to say to our own era of sub-prime mortgages and Real Housewives, and it is easy to see what attracted this year’s Stratford curators to Farquhar’s final hit.

Which is not to say that Cimolino’s direction of the play made the mistake of so many recent performances by shoving this relevance down audiences’ throats. Instead, Cimolino wisely followed the Stratford tradition of letting the play—with some help from the superb acting talents of an ensemble including Colm Feore, Martha Henry, Scott Wentworth, and Gordon S. Miller—speak for itself. The costumes were traditional (and dazzling). Patrick Clark’s set was simple and took pre-Loutherbourgian London theatres as its inspiration; centred upstage was a landing and sweeping staircase, with the apron standing in for the Lichfield inn or for the Sullens’ mansion with the addition or subtraction of a few well-placed chairs, fainting couches, or the odd oriental rug. These decorations were brought on and taken off the stage by the ensemble, who hummed jovial period pieces in harmony as they worked. The songs were a small but telling example of Cimolino’s talent for capitalizing on the potential for charm and delight in every nook and cranny of the production.

The highlight of the show, to be sure, was Feore’s dashing and irrepressible Archer, who perfectly embodied the eighteenth-century rake’s edgy roguishness and irrepressible charisma. In his scenes with Mike Shara’s Aimwell, the two managed to capture the complexities of a friendship fuelled by mutual competitiveness. Archer had an appropriate match in Peacock’s Mrs Sullen, whose subtle and nuanced portrayal somehow suggested world-weariness without cynicism, and flirtation without foolishness. Martha Henry as Lady Bountiful, Gordon S. Miller as Scrub, Robert King as Boniface, and Evan Buliung as Count Bellair capitalized on the full comic potential of even their somewhat smaller roles, and Miller’s mastery of Scrub’s slapstick was particularly entertaining. Shara’s Aimwell lacked the charisma of Feore’s Archer, and Bethany Jillard’s Dorinda was not nearly as engaging as Peacock’s Mrs Sullen, but this is perhaps the fate of all foils—and in that respect, Shara and Jillard did well to stand aside and let the spotlight follow their betters. When they did, what stood out about this performance was its sheer charm: one could not help admiring Archer despite (because of?) his roguishness, cheering on Mrs Sullen despite her lovelessness, and humming along with the ensemble as they went cheerfully about their chores.

This charm is crucial to a play that veers at times towards cynicism and, in a less skilful production, could leave its audience feeling more bitter than sweet. Luckily, Peacock’s intelligent and spirited Mrs Sullen blunted the sharpness of her husband’s barbs, and Wentworth portrayed Squire Sullen as foolish though harmless rather than abusive or cruel. When Archer bursts into Mrs Sullen’s bedroom on a night when highwaymen are about, there is no question that she could hold her...