Figaro: Musical drama.By Steven Epp and Dominique Serrand, adapted from Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” and three plays by Beaumarchais. Directed by Serrand. (Through June 8. Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Berkeley Repertory’s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley. Two hours, 50 minutes. Tickets: $16.50-$69. Call (510) 647-2949 or go to www.berkeleyrep.org.)
Berkley Repertory Theatre has once again brought the esteemed Jeune Lune to its stage. This time they bring the west coast premier of their show Figaro. Set 20 years after the events of the well-known opera by Mozart in the city of Paris, Jeune Lune’s own Stephan Epp has masterfully written his script that holds much relevance today. The production is placed in just the right spot to provide some much needed looks into our own society today. However, Figaro sometimes looses track of to where it is going, and unnecessarily complicates many parts of the show, making the audience loose track of what is really important in the show, the incredible acting provided by Epp and Serrand.
The play begins with Epp pushing in a huge wardrobe box that becomes an important piece of furniture for the rest of the show. The man who penned the piece, Steven Epp, plays old Figaro while Jeune Lune’s own artistic director Dominique Serrand plays the elder count. Their interaction is brilliant and is worth seeing the show for again and again. Their set suggests a minimalistic approach to the story, however hat follows is a whirlwind of actions flowing almost seamlessly between the events of the past and the events of the present. However I found myself wanting to hold onto the events of the present rather than being pulled into the story that they are remembering in the past. I would have had no problem the show continuing with mainly Ebb and Serrand on stage.
In talking with Serrand after the show he spoke about how the opera was so much of what the play was about, however I very humbly disagree with him. The story of the opera has been told over and over again and indeed for many fans of theatre and the opera the story is maybe a little too known. This new play based on the work of Beaumarchais chooses to focus it story on the memories of the now old count and aged Figaro. That is why this production works. It is not so much that the Jeune Lune’s opera is bad, it is just that the acting of Serrand and Epp is so brilliant. It makes the opera an unnecessary side thought to the story of the count and his servant. That is where the problem lies.
Theatre Jeune Lune often bombarded me with so much in trying to combine the story of the opera with that of the two men remembering it. Constantly I was trying to deal with the action onstage, the memories being acted out onstage and the subscript translating the opera. The subscript was completely unnecessary in that it tried to emphasize what was not the point of the play. This production is not about the story of the opera it is about these two men having grown old looking back on their past. Many times I found myself watching two plays onstage having a war with one another. Jeune Lune tried too hard to make the story of the opera be told and to set it apart from the story of the two men.
In an effort to be high tech and innovative they ended up complicating the play even further. Upstage of the action there stood a screen that was constantly changing position. The screen provided many a “cool” moment, showing close-ups of moments onstage on a live feed, but ultimately this was a crutch to allow for staging things away from the audience. The only time it really worked was when it factored into the memories of the men showing the son of the count, as he was a boy. Or when it showed a close up of the actor when it was really called for (ie. when Serrand finds out of his wife’s adultery). There were many times when dialogue was taking place onstage that the screen was moving into a position for another shot or was showing a moving picture background that did not provide much benefit other than distract the viewer from the action onstage.
There were, without a doubt, moments of brilliance in Figaro, but these were mostly found when low-tech devices were being employed, The moments between Figaro and the Count are some of the most priceless on stage as their dry whit and humor is enough to entertain any audience. Even when Serrand’s character leaves the stage you can still feel him present as though he was forced to leave too soon. It’s a pity the opera and the high tech innovation did take a back seat to the real action on stage. Figaro should have taken the advice of its set designers and remained a little more simple and focused more on the story of the men. Sometimes things are left better uncomplicated.
But as a final word, go and see it, if for nothing more than the performances of the leads, i could watch them all day long.
