Bill Ball would be proud. That’s sort of an in-joke between us graduates of the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, who once underwent the rigorous training there. The connection, of course, is director/Artistic Director Ben Guillory, who, along with Board of Director Danny Glover, are proud graduates of ACT.
But enough of theatre company background and on to the reason that Guillory deserves such accolades! At the LATC, Guillory’s Robey Theatre has resurrected a dusty old classic from the French repertory by Alexandre Dumas entitled The Great Lover. Writing in the mid-19th Century, Dumas perfected a kind of melodrama that became known as Romanticism. And his The Great Lover shows a delicious mix of derring-do, intrigue, and romanticism, all mixed up into a wonderful stew. It is significant that the Robey, in particular, should revisit the work of Dumas, as he was of mixed African and French ancestry; someone who rose to the highest echelons of French society. Now Guillory has restyled his work as a significant cultural marker as well as popular comedy of manners.
The plot brings together upper and lower classes as they functioned before the French Revolution, in a series of intrigues that make unravelling their prejudices to get to the truth half the fun. It seems that best friends (and part-time lovers) the Duke de Richelieu (truly villainously played by Julio Hanson) and the Marquise De Prie (significantly wily Tiffany Coty-Goines) are so bored with each other that they make a wager that de Richelieu can bed the first women he next meets. The ensuing la ronde involves the virtuious Gabrielle de Belle-Isle (C.J. Obilom), and a young, upstanding chevalier, Lieutenant Sevran (Jason Mimms). Two servants, delightedfully played by Jenny Cadena and Dan Gbrayes, augment the fun.
Along with the well-paced and practiced repartee, the Robey Theatre’s celebrated attention to classical detail makes this a wonderful, well realized romp. Period costumes by Naila Aladdin Sanders set against joel Daavid’s set dressing, lighted by Camille Roberts, takes the audience back in time for total immersion into another world.
The Great Lover continues Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 3 pm through November 9th at LATC, 514 S. Spring St. All tickets are $40, with student and Sr. tickets at $25. Buy tickets on the website: WWW.THEROBEYTHEATRECOMPANY.ORG Note: November 1st, 2nd SOLD-OUT, 6th, 7th, 8th 2pm SOLD-OUT & 8 pm:
