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A WINNING, WITTY EFFORT IN "THE WAY OF THE WORLD," PERFORMED BY THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY Date published: 10/16/2008
By LUCIA ANDERSON FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR When Millamant sets forth the limits she will tolerate on her independence after marriage, she is raising the feminist torch for the women of 1700--the year William Congreve's "The Way of the World" was first produced. Why, she wants to be able to write letters to whomever she pleases without her husband's supervision! To choose her own clothes and sleep as late in the morning as she wants. Rank insubordination! The witty back-and-forth between Millamant and her intended, Mirabell, is only a small part of the enjoyment afforded by this Restoration comedy. Congreve, writing almost a full century after William Shakespeare, had both the discernment to spot the absurdities of his society and the skill to satirize them. One's reputation in that era was paramount--it didn't matter how many commandments you broke, so long as nobody knew for sure what you were doing. Part of the fun was spreading gossip about everybody else. And in order to maintain one's place as a respectable member of society, one needed money. Lots of it. But one couldn't actually earn money. One inherited it, or married it. And wasn't there plenty of scheming that went on over those possibilities! Congreve assembled a fine group of characters--many of them connected to each other by convoluted family ties--to skewer the current mores for his audiences' amusement. Besides Millamant and Mirabell, there's Lady Wishfort, an aging society matron. She's Millamant's aunt and has the power to withhold half the girl's fortune if she marries against her aunt's wishes. And Lady Wishfort does not want her to marry Mirabell. Then there's Lady Wishfort's daughter, Mrs. Fainall, unhappily married to a schemer who is not above blackmail and bullying to gain control of his mother-in-law's fortune. He's also involved in an adulterous affair with Mrs. Marwood, who actually loves Mirabell. Lady Wishfort is also aunt to Sir Willful Witwoud, a rustic gallant and half brother to the dazzling fop Anthony Witwoud. Michael Kahn, the Shakespeare Theatre Company's artistic director, has directed this effervescent concoction with a sure hand. Lightness is essential in such an airy endeavor, and Kahn keeps things moving briskly. He also hired some topnotch actors to keep the balls in the air.
Date published: 10/16/2008
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