If laughter is the best medicine, what better prescription for a nation mired in gloomy headlines and an uncertain economic future than a good belly laugh. Intiman's new adaptation of Moliere's "A Doctor in Spite of Himself" delivers them non-stop throughout approximately 90 minutes of clowning, sexual punning, comic physicality and downright cleverness.
The plot revolves around a woodcutter named Sgnarelle (Tony Award nominee Daniel Breaker, who is also the husband of Intiman artistic director Kate Whoriskey), whose wife Martine (Ashley Marshall) tricks two servants of a wealthy local landowner into thinking that her husband is a brilliant physician. The servants force Sgnarelle to attend their master's only daughter who has been struck dumb. Sgnarelle is able to maintain the myth that he is a learned man through a mixture of bravado, mumbo jumbo and misquoting Aristotle. Moliere created a second send up of the medical profession in his later play "The Imaginary Invalid."
Co-adaptors Christopher Bayes (who also directs) and Steven Epp spice up their rich adaptation of Moliere's 17th century comedy with contemporary pop-culture references as well as incorporating comic flourishes of the earlier commedia dell'arte from which Moliere derived many of his characters and plots, and from burlesque, and Punch and Judy puppet shows, both offspring of commedia. The direction of commedia expert Bayes provides the scope for a great cast of comic actors to ad-lib while still maintaining split-second timing and the discipline of commedia inspired physicality. Some of the more charming moments in "A Doctor" occur when an actor's comic antics make a fellow performer lose it and join the audience in laughter.
Several performers stand out from an overall notable cast. Breaker employs his plastic features, physicality and comic timing to great effect as Sgnarelle, the woodcutter posing as doctor of the title. Veteran comic actor and co-adaptor Steven Epp tackles comic physicality with the precision of a dancer as the Pierrot-inspired character Lucas who lives in constant fear of losing his wife to another man. He displays a similar dexterity in the verbal arena as the hick Thibaut. Allen Gilmore and Austin Durant bring impressive vocal and comic talents to their respective roles as the wealthy Geronte and foppish lover Leandre.
Elizabeth Caitlin Ward's costume design blends clown, burlesque comedian and 17th century in comic book brights with an overlay of the outrageous, notably in the strategeic placement of clown noses on Martine's (Ashley Marshall) costume.
Far from being passive like, well, scenery, Narelle Sissons's scenic design crashes, rolls and scoots onstage as part of the comic action. Aaron Halva's compositions ranging from toe-tapping hoe-down to oompah and hava nagila, strike just the right note as performed by Seattle musicians Greg Powers and Rob Witmer along with the cast.
I found myself still smiling the day after watching a play that does not pretend to be any more or less than comedy, albeit a comedy that strikes at the funny bone in as many ways and from as many angles as it can.
"A Doctor In Spite of Himself" plays through Oct. 10 at Intiman. www.intiman.org or 206-296-1900.[[In-content Ad]]
