| If
Shakespeare Tackled the Improv Circuit
How
to describe the performance by i Sebasitani? Imagine improv
night at the Renaissance Faire, or Monty Python's take on
Canterbury Tales. At least that puts us in the right ballpark.
The
theater troupe, appearing at Boston Center for the Arts through
July 26, markets itself as the greatest commedia dell'arte
troupe in the entire world. And while I have no idea who their
competition might be, it's fun to watch their spontaneous
rehearsals come alive on the local stage.
Basically,
the actors know the scenario of the show, based on a short,
written plotline, but all of the dialogue, interactions, and
physical contests are improvised right there for the audience.
Normally, I'm not a big fan of improv, with all the miming
and groan-inducing puns, but the i Seabstiani troupe all know
their characters so well, it's fun to watch the chemistry
they create just by bumping into each other on stage.
The
story keeps it simple: All the action occurs in a piazza in
Ravenna, Italy, sometime back in the 16th century. One of
the titular captains has vanished for six years in search
of his long lost brother. He leaves behind his fiancée
Isabella, her manic father, and a town filled with randy gossips.
When the play starts, the lost brother shows up in town, but
it's unclear if the betrothed couple will ever manage to find
each other again.
The
oddball assortment of stock characters includes a sniveling
manservant, the naïve young lovers, the sweet buffoon,
the nefarious twin, and the saucy chambermaid. Rumors and
miscues threaten all the romances, while back-stabbing and
greediness stir up further drama. The actors keep the plot
zipping along, inhabiting their zany personas with so much
spirit, you're willing to forget the threadbare plot and enjoy
watching them play out their roles.
The
company drew their name from Flaminio Scala's troupe I Gelosi,
or "The Zealous Ones," with a nod to their own founder
Jeff "Sebastian" Hatalsky. Since its inception back
in 1990, the company has bounced around from Montreal to Texas,
performing more than 50 different shows and honing their improvisational
style. The Leland Theatre, which cramps some theater troupes,
forcing them to play around support poles and other obstructions,
felt surprisingly intimate for this show. When "The Twin
Captains" begins, the actors themselves pile onto the
stage and hand-draw the quaint piazza that will serve as their
backdrop.
Veteran
trouper Jay Cross is particularly entertaining as Isabella's
babbling father, reeling off one non sequitur after another
until he has taken himself miles away from the conversation
at hand. His reaction when Isabella starts smashing her way
through his prized heirlooms is one of the many comic highlights.
Everyone
else in the troupe brings a unique spark of humor: Flutter-fingered
Cat Crow endears herself as Isabella. Carl "Stinky Goo
Man" West amuses as a servant fixated on food. And Mike
Yoder makes a master louse "es-ssneaking" all over
the stage, doing his best to cause trouble whenever possible.
These
characters seem so intent on messing up each other's lives,
their conflicts call to mind the screwball comedies of Shakespeare,
a source i Sebastiani pays homage to with all of its mistaken
identities and star-crossed romantics. Surely the great bard
himself would approve of the entertaining antics carried out
in a fresh presentation every night. Many of these characters
in fact seem to be auditioning for a place within his canon.
By
the time you get to the third act, the thinness of "The
Twin Captains" plot starts to grow weary, and I found
myself hoping they'd wrap it all up before running it into
the ground. Just as I wished, the troupe ties things up quite
neatly, and ends it all with a final, satisfying burst of
silliness that perfectly caps a night of off-the-cuff entertainment.
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