~by Dena Burroughs
Robertson Dean (The Count), Susan Angelo (The Countess)
and Lenne Klingaman (Lucille)
The Rehearsal - Theater Review
The stage at Glendale’s A Noise Within theater has been transformed into an elegant French interior crowded with actors decked out in 18th century outfits for the performance of Jean Anouilh’s The Rehearsal.The Rehearsal was written not that long ago, in 1950, and the story takes place in present time. However Anouilh included a play-within-a play and the main action happens as the actors attempt to rehearse a work from the 1700s written by Pierre de Marivaux’s entitled The Double Inconstancy. They prance about wearing wigs and complicated dresses as the French would have worn in the 1700s, while with the same ease Hortensia, played by Jill Hill, strips down to her underwear as in the present day.
Anouilh became famous for his spot on portraits of the human condition. In The Rehearsal, categorized as one of his brillantes plays (meaning brilliant or witty plays), he manages to combine light and dark elements that keep the audience amused even as sexual antics and personal deceptions are evident.
Lucille, played by Lenne Klingaman, is an innocent young woman caught in the midst of a dark existence at the home of The Count and The Countess, played respectively by Robertson Dean and Susan Angelo. Anouilh’s recurrent theme of the contrast of idealism vs reality is revealed through this trio’s dynamic. Likewise, in Hero, played forcefully by A NoiseWithin’s founder Geoff Elliott, the viewer can discern the duplicity of clever rhetoric and cynical intention, while witnessing his despicable behavior yet never despising him completely.
The Rehearsal is over two hours long and it is presented in three set changes with two intermissions. It will run until May 24th.
