School for Wives

Reviewed by Paul Birchall
Archway Theatre Company/Archway Studio Theatre
Through May 7

RECOMMENDED

Although it’s dangerous to impose our own political leanings on works of the past, Moliere’s 1662 sex farce could in many ways be considered a bona fide feminist tract. 

Yes, women are treated like baubles, as you’d expect in a play that reflects the mores of 17^th century France — but the injustice of forbidding women the opportunity to better themselves is depicted with a biting wit that borders on venomous. This angry edge is cleverly captured in director Ron Milts’ genial production, which is set in the late 1960s, (albeit somewhat irrelevantly, as no one in the production seems aware of that).

It’s always a risk to update a classic play to a modern setting: Do it properly, and you reveal new layers to the work. Do it shallowly, and you come across like a high school production costumed at Goodwill. Milts’ production utilizes the 1960s in a way that’s more perfunctory than it should be — it doesn’t follow through in background or context as much as one might wish. 

Arnold (Skip Popo) is a lifelong bachelor, and understandably so, as he has clear contempt for women and fears intelligent, educated ones. By his own admission, he prefers his gals not just barefoot and pregnant — he also wants them locked up and ignorant. In hopes of finding a mate who will suit him, he adopts a little girl and has her brought up in utter seclusion, guarded by a pair of dimwitted duennas (Cynthia Aldrich and Chrisi Talyn Saje). 

The girl, Agnes (Lauren Parkinson), grows into an innocent beauty — but before Arnold can lay claim to her, she falls headlong in love with a handsome neighbor, Horace (Michael Blalock). Horace is one of Arnold’s best friends, but he doesn’t know Arnold is planning to marry her.  And Arnold is so jealous that, instead of telling Horace, he uses increasingly desperate means to sabotage his and Agnes’s ardent romance. 

Throughout, Milts’ staging hits the mark with crisp precision, even as the performers adroitly milk the gags for comic effect, with lots of wonderfully detailed gestures, mugs, and pratfalls. Sandwiches are hurled, doors are slammed, and ears are boxed. But the production also hints at the anger and inhumanity lurking beneath the surface. Parkinson’s lovely turn as the sweet, but somehow damaged Agnes has clear intonations of tragedy —her innocence is a result of deprivation and oppression. (What kind of amazing creature could a lady this clever have become if she’d been allowed an education and a proper life?) By contrast, Pipo’s smooth, calculating and double-faced Arnold is chilling, all the more so as he becomes ever more monstrous in his attempts to control his ward. 

Saje and Aldrich offer nice turns as the two dim-bulb house guards, as does Blalock as the dynamic and charismatic boy who falls for Agnes at first sight. Costumes by Sarah Morris and Sara Davenport appear to have been raided from the thrift shops, and are really the only thing in the show that say 1960s. They’re mostly charming in any case, particularly Saje’s groovy disco hairdo.

Archway Studio Theatre, 10509 Burbank Blvd, Burbank.  Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 2p.m.; through May 7.  Tickets at https://archwayla.com. Running time: 2 hours with an intermission.