No Strings Attached
Lantern Theater Co.'s Scapin
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The surprises in Lantern Theater Co.'s Scapin start when we walk into the company's playing space: Instead of the two-section audience arrangement that's been that way since Arden Theatre Co. called St. Stephen's Theater its home in the early 1990s and the Lantern moved in more than a decade ago, seats are all on one side — and as a bonus, they're comfy new chairs, too.
They face Nick Embree's extraordinary set for Bill Irwin and Mark O'Donnell's adaptation of Molière's formulaic comedy, an endearingly handmade Venice cityscape with no right angles. It's reminiscent of Marc Chagal's European villages of stacked houses — and all puppet-sized, which makes Benjamin Lloyd, the title character and only non-puppet, amusingly Kong-like.
Director and puppet creator Aaron Cromie's characters all have large heads and small bodies. Some of the puppet heads are surprisingly expressive creations, complemented by their manipulators' real hands, while others are the equally animated actors' heads with tiny puppet bodies hanging from their necks, the little hands and feet controlled by sticks. Together, they strike an asymmetrical balance with Lloyd.
Scapin's story feels like bottom-drawer Molière (which still makes it top-drawer comedy): Young Octavo (Bradley K. Wrenn) secretly marries penniless Hyacinth (Leah Walton), but his father, Argante (also Walton), has promised Octavo to rich neighbor Geronte (Wrenn). Meanwhile, Geronte's son Leandro (Dave Johnson) loves wild gypsy Zerbinetta (Walton), but knows his father will disapprove. Both lovers turn to wily servant Scapin, who helps them by swindling money from their gruff fathers. Hilarity — involving slapstick violence, dancing, smooching, puns, chases and unbelievable coincidences — ensues just as — the characters remind each other and us — a comedy requires.
The cast's verbal and physical dexterity never ceases to amaze, as when servant Sylvestre (Johnson) pantomimes a story to Scapin, who pretends to psychically divine it for Argante. Lloyd bounces all over the set and theater, toying with the audience through endearing wink-wink improvised asides. Throwaway jokes abound: the police motorboat gondola, the thunderclaps punctuating Geronte's entrances, and MathewWright's musical commentary that perfectly slips in themes from Mission Impossible and Charlie Brown.
We're always aware that they're telling a story, of course, adding to our pleasure, as when an actor's several characters converse: Walton shifts so effortlessly from Hyacinth's ingenue squeak to Zerbinetta's Slavic growl that we almost forget the voices come from one adept actor.
Through Jan. 3, $22-$35, Lantern Theater Co. at St. Stephen's Theater, 923 Ludlow St., 215-829-0395, lanterntheater.org.
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$10 student rush ten minutes before curtain, cash only. Valid ID required.
TICKETS + INFO: http://www.lanterntheater.org or 215.829.0395