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| Page 20 | Theater Reviews | October 2005 |
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By Alidė Kohlhaas It is a pleasure to write about a production that is so visually delightful and moves so seamlessly along as does Habeas Corpus, the current effort at CanStage. At the same time it is rather difficult to make critical comments about it because there is much to be praised and one runs the danger of sounding too effusive. When a comedy is well presented and acted it is a joy to behold, when not it is a misery to endure. Well, CanStage outdid itself with Alan Bennett's wonderful 1960s Habeas Corpus. It has made one regain faith in theatre after the dismal start of the 2005-6 season in other areas. Bennett, if you aren't familiar with the name, is one of the members of the great comedic adventure, Beyond the Fringe, a British group that also included and made famous Dudley Moore, Peter Cooke and Jonathan Miller. The four university pals brought Beyond the Fringe to the Edinburgh Festival in 1959 and then to London's West End and New York. Each of them carved out a different career. Bennett, unlike the others, stayed out of the controversial limelight by slowly turning into one of Britain's great dramatists. He garnered critical acclaim in the theatre, in television and in film. He not only writes, but also now and then acts, and directs. 
Some of his characters are the downtrodden, at other times
they are the stilted middle class or the inhibited upper crust. In
Habeas Corpus Bennett chose to cast his eye on just about every layer of the
British class system. Of course, Habeas Corpus means 'you may have the
body', a phrase we know mostly as legal jargon. Here, however, the 'body'
in question belongs to Felicity, a well-curved 1960s British 'bird', who
arouses lustful feelings in a middle-aged doctor, and finally awakens the
dormant sexuality in his son Dennis.
The emphasis in Habeas Corpus is on 1960s Britain, although Bennett published the play in 1973. To some extent the stock characters he portrays still exist even today so that the play is by no means dated even though it needs the 1960s setting to make sense. Let's begin with the set, minimal in the 1960s manner, which designer Ken MacDonald sparks with 2005 technology through superimposed opening titles on a scrim in front of the set. This he does, of course, with the assistance of lighting designer, Paul Mathiesen. The end result is very classy and brought on heavy applause on opening night, while also eliciting chuckles as a rose colored dot bounced its way through the titles. Since all of the action takes place in the home and surgery of the 53-year-old physician, Arthur Wicksteed, MacDonald uses blowups of X-rays as part of the set. These contain a kind of grotesque humour that goes well with Bennett's 'serious' farce. Bennett called Habeas Corpus a farce without doors, meaning he did not want to have his comedy compared to the frenetic French farces of Feydeau and Labiche. Of course, Bennett also gives us a bit of the mistaken identity bit, and there is sexual innuendo, groping and plenty of lusting as befits this kind of farce. This, however, comes at a slower pace than in the French style farces, which director Morris Panych exploits extremely well. The cast is well chosen. Joseph Ziegler, whom we don't usually get to see in comedies, plays Wicksteed senior. The good doctor is a bit of a lecher, who has cheated on his wife Muriel (Fiona Reid) numerous times with some of his patients and now hopes to do the same again with young, very with-it Felicity Rumpers (Tara Rosling). The good doctor is inclined toward philosophizing and Ziegler delivers the lengthy monologues with the grandeur of Greek tragedy. The seeming nobility of these monologues infuses the play with subtle humour, and Ziegler knows how to deliver. In fact, Bennett uses the Greek format by also having the
charwoman, Mrs. Swabb (Sheila McCarthy -
e),
act as It has to be said here that none of the roles are easy to play because all of them satirize certain kinds of British personalities still in existence today. Reid takes on the daunting role of the frustrated wife of the straying doctor, who craves her husband's attention with little avail. Reid manages to exploit that housewifely frustration to the fullest, with the result that she is highly amusing. The shrillness of Reid's accent reminds one of those London ladies from south of the Thames, whose seem to think that a shrill tone implies being cultured. The Wicksteed's son Dennis, often called Trevor by his father, is a true nerd, who on top of it all, suffers from hypochondria. Cyrus Lane is very believable in the role of this awkward young man, so that we can laugh at him without feeling guilty. And that, after all, is what comedy should be all about — that we can indulge in laughing at someone, or at something that we would never laugh at in real life. Melody A. Johnson plays the flat-chested, ill-dressed, spinster sister Constance of Arthur Wicksteed. Constance has been engaged to the local parson — the play is set in Hove — for years, but in reality is hoping for a better catch, while also dreaming of finding a solution that will provide her with a bigger bust. It takes courage for an actress to play such an unattractive woman, and Johnson gives her the full measure. David Storch portrays the toothy Canon Throbbing and also doubles for the depressive Mr. Purdue, one of Dr. Wicksteed's patients. The canon is, as his name implies, throbbing to consummate his arrangement with Constance, but at the same time seeks satisfaction in less suitable ways. Storch does not fail us by milking the comedic aspects of this role to the fullest. Here, subtlety is not required, and not given. Sir Percy Shorter is a self-righteous, vengeful president of the British Medical Association, who is determined to have Wicksteed struck from the register. They are old rivals for Muriel's affections, but mostly Shorter cannot forgive anyone who patronizes him for being short. Saunders is truly funny, playing the role to the hilt. It is one of Bennett's sharp aims at the pretensions of the upper crust. Bennett also takes on the upper crust by introducing us to Lady Rumpers, Felicity's mother. Astrid van Wieren, stomping across the stage in a sensible suit and sensible shoes, reminds one of a neighbor in London, the sister of an earl, who very much carried herself that way. Lady Rumpers does not understand the 'permissible' society of 1960s Britain, having only recently returned from Addis Abba and Kuala Lumpur. She is determined to protect her daughter from its evils. Well, Felicity, looking very much like the perfect Mary Quant girl, dressed in white miniskirt and high, white boots with a quasi-Sassoon haircut, has other ideas. Rosling captures the not overly bright quality of the character extremely well.
Finally, there is Mr. Shanks, a carny kind of character, who has the answer to Constance Wicksteed's busty problem. The role doesn't offer a great deal of depth, but Neil Foster takes the character as far as it can be taken. Designer MacDonald created excellent costumes for this production, capturing the period of the play with ease. For once we are given costumes that fit the time and the characters, something that lately seldom happens. For anyone wanting to be truly entertained, Habeas Corpus is one comedy that should not be missed. [Habeas Corpus by Alan Bennett, a production by CanStage
runs at the Photo Credits: Cylla von Tiedemann |
a kind of Greek Chorus by
commenting on the goings-on as the play proceeds. She is the only one in the
play, who knows what is really happening or is about to happen. McCarthy
gives the role a beautiful comic turn as she pushes her 'hoover' across the
stage.
