Folger Shakespeare Theatre: Nell Gwynn

There are by estimation 7 Tier One Theatres in the Washington, DC area (Arena Stage, Folgers Shakespeare Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, and Studio Theatre)  Of these, the most intimate is the Folgers.  It is also the best value of the bunch.  I do love attending plays there, and rarely walk away disappointed.  Such is the quality that I've come to expect that sometimes even a really good production leaves me wanting more.  "Nell Gwynn" was a really good production, and I will commence to singing its praises momentarily; however, permit me to first dispense with my objection.

When everything about a production seems wonderful, but I am unsatisfied, I tend to allow myself latitude (peppered with a certain arrogance, to be sure) to consider factors outside of the people who are directly responsible for this production's control.  In this case, I place my disappointment squarely upon the shoulders of the playwright herself.  There no doubt that Jessica Swale is brilliant.  Her staging and dialogue are pitch perfect.  Her overall vision for the work in my experience was her Achilles Tendon, if you will.  The central character is Nell Gwynn, who was one of the very first women to perform on the English stage during the time of Charles II and after the passing of William Shakespeare.  To tell her story isn't she writing an historical biography?  But it's also a witty comedy?  With music, so it's also a musical?  Is the music in service to the historical accuracy? or is it meant to enhance the comedy?  And is it a good historical biography that happens to include humorous anecdotes?  Or is it a comedy using the motif of an historical biography to bring form to the humor?  OR is it just an overly ambitious attempt to do all of this that in spite of its brilliance comes up short?  BINGO!  While I loved--that is LOVED!--nearly every single moment and all the supporting aspects of the play, as a unified creation it was two porous to hold my attention over the scope of its reign.  I don't know if you've ever experienced anything like this yourself, but it's awfully disconcerting. 

So let me put the play as a literary work aside and focus on the particulars. 

What fun!  The cast is superb.  Their ability to hit the mark with the humor was time and again fresh and delightful.  Even the bit players were so well performed that the ensemble took on the necessity of a house of cards where no one could be thought of as expendable.  In particular I loved the performance of Christopher Dinolfo as Edward Kynaston the legendary "female" lead at a time when women were not permitted to act.  His character is the jilted lover tossed from the limelight by the audacious Nell Gwynn with nothing but his flair for the dramatic with which to fight back.  His performance was hilarious throughout and the very epitome of the entire casts' robust commitment to their characters.  Michael Glenn is a local favorite of mine, and in the role of the hapless playwright, John Dryden he excelled at the "accommodator turned sincere truth-teller on a dime" persona.  And even though you figured out that his character would go there, it never failed to feel fresh and surprising--an example of the Ms. Swale's genius.  The final shoutout goes to Catherine Flye as Nancy, the sweet, maternal at times yet dimwitted with a naughty edge stage manager etc. of the little theatre company.  In some ways, one of the the minor characters, but by my count a major comedic force.  Her sarcastic zingers never missed the bull's eye of the audience's funny bones.

Add to the excellent acting, a beautiful and production specific sound score, sumptuous costumes, and a set that was both geometrically simple and functionally perfect---and well, honestly, it is a production well worth seeing, even if it left me wanting something more structurally cohesive. 

Another thing about the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, because of its particular design (meant to evoke a sense of Shakespeare's own iconic Globe theatre) there are a handful of seats from which unfettered visual access of the full stage is not possible without some squirming or extending of one's position in the seat.  As a result, these seat of marketed as having an "obstructed view" thus costing slightly less than 50% the of the price of the next cheapest seat.  I have come to appreciate their discount, and have to trouble at all leaning forward in order to catch some action which is just outside of the given range of view.  Ergo, I attended the performance for $34 dollars while the couple sitting directly to my right paid $134 dollars for their two seats.  As you can see, my general view was quite good, and I can assure you, I had no qualms about leaning forward when necessary!