RECOMMENDED
Tom Stoppard’s “Travesties” is a remarkable juggling act: a character study masquerading as a comedy of manners masquerading as a play of ideas. Framed by the unreliable narration of the aged Henry Carr (Lance Stuart Baker), the play depicts the imagined interactions of James Joyce (Jay Whittaker), Tristan Tzara (Sean Allen Krill), and Vladimir Lenin (Tim Donoghue) in wartime Zurich. “Travesties” showcases Stoppard’s pyrotechnic skills with language: the players (including Heidi Kettenring and Cristen Paige as the two objects of these disparate geniuses’ desire) rattle off demented limericks, debate the essence of Dada in the form of a Catholic catechism, and allude casually to the history of English drama from Shakespeare to Wilde, with a nod to Gilbert and Sullivan. The play is less successful in its earnest debates over art and politics. The appearances of Lenin, in particular, are almost perfectly correlated with lulls in the play’s momentum, as if Stoppard wanted to prove indirectly Tzara’s claim that art should remain free from social concerns. Charles Newell’s revival of his 1995 production at the Court hits the play’s high points with an infectious enthusiasm, abetted especially by John Culbert’s clever, Borgesian set design and Baker’s impeccably timed performance. (John Beer)
This production is now closed.
Related Stories
Holding Court: A Review of King Hedley II at Court Theatre Court Theatre continues to strengthen its reputation as the premiere destination for August Wilson work with this latest production.- Woman on the Edge: A Review of Photograph 51 at Court Theatre Double standards and double helix collide in this timely history play.
- Open Me Carefully: A Review of The Belle of Amherst at Court Theatre Court Theatre's production of this 1976 play about the poet Emily Dickinson falls short of a complete portrait of the complex Massachusetts native.
- Sporting Life: A Review of Radio Golf at Court Theatre Court Theatre continues their push to become the premiere destination for August Wilson's work.
- Unprecedented Arrival: A Review of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner at Court Theatre Court Theatre's production of this classic sixties film turned stage play has many virtues not the least of which is the young talent on display.
