‘Ovejuna’ well-rounded but uninspired

The program in theatre’s annual fall show is typically a high point of the Princeton theater season. This year’s production of Cusi Cram’s “Fuente Ovejuna: A Disloyal Adaptation” is a solid show that falls a bit short as a marquee event.

“Fuente” chronicles the travails of a leftist student theater group rehearsing an original adaptation of Lope de Vega’s famous play of the same name. As opening night nears, cast members bicker and flirt, struggle over how to craft a script both true to the original and relevant to their target audiences and run selected scenes from their adaptation. The rehearsed scenes approximate the plot of de Vega’s “Fuente,” which chronicled a successful communal uprising against a tyrannical knight that occurred in a small Spanish village in the 15th century. It’s an appealingly structured play that touches on many issues of adaptation, interpretation and performance in a fun, non-didactic manner.

The acting in “Fuente” is decent though unspectacular. Each cast member does a competent job, but there are no transcendent performances. Carolyn Vasko ’13 shines as Laurencia and is one of the few actors to convincingly capture the shift between her primary character and who she depicts in the metaplay. Gabriel Crouse ’12, playing the director who adapts de Vega’s play for his idiosyncratic troupe, comes off as too stiff and over-rehearsed, especially in contrast to Carlie Robbins ’14, who is excellent as his unofficial assistant director. Eamon Foley ’15 is also confident and funny as an assistant to the doomed knight.

Unsurprisingly, the design and technical work of the show is excellent. Timothy Mackabee’s sets are streamlined and elegant, and the decision to give the audience an unobstructed view of the supplies piled in the wings serves as an obvious but effective reminder that the cast is in the thick of rehearsals for their own production. Clayton Raithel ’12’s original music, played by guitarists Simon Segert ’14 and Han Tran ’15, is an excellent soundtrack for the show.

The Program in Theatre deserves credit for choosing to showcase a play inspired by the great Spanish dramatist de Vega. Although there are many specialized theatre groups on campus — for instance, the Princeton Shakespeare Company features English Renaissance drama, L’Avant Scene produces French theatre and the Princeton Chinese Theatre puts on several Asian plays each year — no Princeton student group regularly mounts Hispanophone productions. “Fuente” thus positively contributes to the breadth of campus theatre offerings this season.

Nevertheless, I do question the decision not to attempt a more challenging play. With unmatched access to talent, money and professional assistance for a Princeton student production, I feel that the Program in Theatre’s signature annual production should tackle a piece that would be difficult or impossible to do as a conventional student show. I could easily envision “Fuente” as a strong thesis production, and it unfortunately failed to spur the students in the cast to performances of extraordinary strength or sophistication, as past fall shows have done admirably. Held to the highest of standards, “Fuente” doesn’t quite measure up.

3/5 Paws

Pros: Solid production at every level.