Moliere's 'The Miser' is worth the price of admission

Francesca Furchtgott '12's innovative take on Moliere's classic comedy begins abruptly, its start signaled not by the lowering of the house lights and the opening of a curtain but by the cast's disorderly entrance through the back of the theater. They are a group of itinerant actors, we soon learn, come to perform whatever play a lucky audience member pulls from a faded black hat. After a few unsuitable options have been exhausted (I heard "Ragtime" and "Triangle," among others), "The Miser" is withdrawn.

And just as abruptly, the cast members scatter throughout the theater as Moliere's satire begins. The exuberant comedy of manners traces the travails of Harpagon (the eponymous miser, played by Daniel Gastfriend '13) as he attempts to marry the considerably younger Mariane (Cara Tucker '12), arrange marriages for his son Cleante (James Mears '11) and daughter Elise (Camila Vega '12), obsessively control his daily expenses and indefatigably guard a chest of money buried in the garden.

Aside from Harpagon's relentless penny-pinching, the heart of the comedy centers on Cleante and Mariane falling in love and Elise's desire to marry Valere (Rob Jones '12), a young man of mysterious lineage who tries to win Harpagon's favor. The characters wind their way through every imaginable misunderstanding, until the theft of Harpagon's buried treasure and the arrival of a mysterious count sorts everything out.

The script's absurdity demands ostentatious and caricatured acting, and the most successful performances in "The Miser" embrace this unabashedly. As Elise, Vega masters a look of comic wide-eyed naivete that perfectly captures her character's (regrettably) passive role in all of the action. Arielle Sandor '12 plays scheming matchmaker Frosine with great enthusiasm, exhibiting the florid seduction and flattery appropriate to the part. Raffi Grinberg '12's portrayal of the hilariously sycophantic servant Jacques typifies the strong ensemble work of the production.

But the show's success ultimately rests on Gastfriend's passionate portrayal of Harpagon. His convincing stammer, triggered by the slightest suspicion of theft; the raw yet greatly entertaining sight of him writhing on the stage when his coffer of money vanishes; and the conviction with which he accuses the audience, person by person, of the theft - all these add up to an outstanding performance.

The intimate confines of Whitman College's Class of 1970 Theater provide an ideal venue to play with theatrical conventions. The production as a whole does a masterful job of utilizing the distinctive performance space to engage the audience --- often quite literally. The actors remain scattered throughout the house for the whole two hours, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice, and the effect of the play's numerous asides is heightened by the audience's proximity to the stage.

Perhaps my favorite use of the space comes when Jacques is asked to mediate a dispute between Cleante and Harpagon. Producing a gavel from the chest of props and costumes that remains onstage throughout the play, Jacques then bangs it on the stage's metal railing several times during the adjudication. The opening interaction with the audience, combined with the final comment to the audience about the acting troupe ("Next stop, New Haven!"), adds a humorous touch while also serving a larger comic purpose. Much of the text's humor hinges on the parody of theatrical conventions, and Furchtgott's direction heightens this comedy by implicitly reminding viewers that they're really just watching a bunch of Princeton students.

Perhaps inevitably, the show does drag at times. After all, it's not easy to maintain the play's frenetic energy for a full two hours. Nevertheless, Furchtgott has crafted a wonderful interpretation of "The Miser" that shines from solid, well-suited acting and clever comedic innovations.