The Two Gentlemen of Verona by Fiasco Theater (review)

Fiasco Theater is a lively ensemble company on the rise in the United States. Recently created by graduates from the Brown University/Trinity Rep graduate acting program, this small troupe is entirely actor-driven. On their website, they declare, “The artists at Fiasco believe that thrilling theater is invented through dynamic rehearsal—exploring the play in a full, open, joyful way through the voice, body, and imagination. We believe the performer, the text and the audience are the only elements required to make great theater.” Their name reflects the group’s investment in artistic risk-taking. The word “fiasco” apparently was used to describe performances of commedia dell’artethat went awry; in the wake of disaster, the commediaactors would have to fare fiasco, which meant to “make a bottle,” or make their way bravely, even hilariously through the scene. As the actors explain, they chose the name Fiasco to remind themselves “to brave the huge leaps in the hopes of reaping huge artistic rewards.”

Huge leaps and huge rewards aptly describes Fiasco’s delightful production of Two Gentlemen of Veronaat Theatre for a New Audience in New York City. Through the vibrant, energetic performances of six actors, Fiasco stretched the possibilities and pleasures of comedy in ways that were both hilarious and poignant, from the doubling and tripling of parts (even across species) to the varied staging of multiple letter and ring tricks. Before the play began, the actors chatted with the audience, creating an easy rapport that deepened quickly with the start of the play. The liminal moments between mingling and performing were handled gracefully as the actors stepped onto the empty platform and started to sing. As they finished, all but the two gentlemen, Valentine (Zachary Fine) and Proteus (Noah Brody), moved to the sidelines to sit on benches where the actors returned periodically throughout the performance to watch scenes, change costume, and take up musical instruments. Fine and Brody conveyed the friends’ devotion to one another with ease and good humor, speaking the verse with lightness and precision. Their appeal to the audience was direct and fresh, which could also be said about the other actors. The wordplay, repartee, and humorous monologues, never too heavy or vulgar, became the source of mutual pleasure between actors and audience, and the passionate outbursts of lovers were delivered with youthful poignancy and feeling.

Fiasco’s co-directors (Jessie Austrian and Ben Steinfeld) envisioned The Two Gentlemen of Veronaas Shakespeare’s “first draft” at love and comedic art. Their conceit was realized visually in Derek McLane’s whimsical, lovely set made of crumpled up white sheets of paper and white blossoms. Strewn along the three walls and growing from the tops of two posts doubling as trees, the white papers and blossoms cast the theater in a springtime light. Far from confirming critics’ diagnoses of Two Gentlemenas an underdeveloped drama that captures attention mainly because of how it anticipates Shakespeare’s great comedies to come, this production demonstrated that the comedy could stand on its own as an emotionally engaging, dramatically vibrant story of young friends and lovers facing betrayal, heartbreak, and reconciliation for the first time. The actors’ loving attention to the nuances of character, as well as to the intricacies of relationships, the timing of jokes, and the theatricality of actions, created an experience of shared delight and emotional cohesion.

The most rewarding (and unexpected) choice in casting came with the actor who portrayed the naughty dog, Crab (Zachary Fine). Wearing a bulbous black nose and taking on a relaxed canine stance, Fine gave a winning performance (Fig.11). He sent...