Thursday, March 12, 2009

STC: The Dog In The Manger

I know it's been quite a while since I've blogged, especially about shows I've seen. I specifically regret not posting about the all male cast version of Romeo and Juliet, the superbly green* (in color, not talent) production of The Way of The World, and the highly entertaining delivery of Twelfth Night. Wow, I'm a slacker! But I digress.

Tuesday night, hubby and I saw The Dog In The Manger for the first time. We were completely unfamiliar with the play, but it was a fantastic production (I know. I say that about all the performances at STC. I swear, I'm not biased.). Normally I take a line from the show to use as a clever blog post headline, but the title of this play is quite clever on it's own.

According to Aesop's fable of the same name, a disrupted napping dog keeps the oxen away from their hay in the manger even though he has no intention of eating it himself. In the play, Diana is the dog and the hay is her secretary, Teodoro, who is in love with one of Diana's ladies-in-waiting (presumably the oxen). Well, that's the basic idea at least. It's a bit more complicated than that as the play involves many issues including aristocracy, honor, purity of heart, jealousy, revenge, . . . you know, the usual. Personally, my favorite form of theatrical entertainment is the coupling of "high tragedy with low comedy" and this certainly hit the spot. Essentially, Diana only wants Teodoro when he's pledged his love to Marcela. But because of her lofty social status and Honor, when he returns Diana's affections, she spurns him. In the end, with the help of hilarious plot devices including but not limited to Servants In Disguise and Shady Contractual Agreements, Diana and Teodoro end up together with an enormous subterfuge to uphold. Though the play is set in the Spanish Golden Age, director Jonathan Munby took full advantage of said "low comedy" throwing in modern colloquialisms and banter. Or perhaps it was the actors. Either way, it was brilliantly balanced and executed.

As always, the costumes and set were fabulous. All the ladies wore black hoop-skirt dresses that were not only fun to look at, but also provided a nice contrast to the bright, colorful attire worn by Diana's aristocratic suitors. The set was comprised of screen walls which offered the characters a means to eavesdrop auspiciously. Mwahahahaha. I love how clever the set designers are. They never cease to amaze me.

This show is only running for a few more weeks, so check it out while you can. It's not a well known play, but it's definitely worth seeing. Next on the list: Ion @ Sydney Harmon Hall.



*One very cool thing the Shakespeare Theatre Company does to recycle costumes is to have them re-sewn into handbags, purses, clutches, scarves, etc. by a very talented lady from Fusion Fashion Accessories. Tuesday night I added a nifty little coin/card pouch to my collection. It's made of one of the various green materials from The Way Of The World. Perfect for St. Patty's Day.

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