Theater Review—

‘Enchanted April’ Carries Very Well Into May

By Julie Stern

SHERMAN — The Sherman Players’ season opening production of Matthew Barber’s Enchanted April seems part of a year-long tribute to the British Isles, as it will be followed in summer by The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Scottish), Dancing at Lughnasa (Irish) in the fall, and  finally, Dylan Thomas’ Welsh classic, A Child’s Christmas in Wales. As these are all worthwhile and substantial plays,  they make for a highly promising schedule.

A dramatic comedy with serious overtones, Barber’s  portrait of four English ladies who band together to rent a castle on the coast of Italy is set in 1922, a time when all of Europe had been altered by a war that cost 21 million casualties.

When Lotty Wilton hears of a castle being offered for rent for the month of April,  she impulsively invites the shy and withdrawn Rose Arnott to join her on a holiday, to escape the  perpetual rain and gloom of the English winter. In order to come up with the necessary funds,  they advertise for “gentlewomen” to join them on their venture. Thus their party is completed by the glamorous Lady Caroline Bramble, and the fussy  termagant,  Mrs Graves.

The first act, set in a drab London, gives a sense of the varied personalities of the women, and an inkling of the underlying malaise that depresses each of them. The naturally ebullient Lotty is married to a stuffy attorney who micromanages every aspect of her life, while never listening to a word she says. Rose is a mournful “Madonna,” a sad-eyed, golden-haired young woman who spends her time in church, while her husband,  a scribbler of lurid romance novels under a pen name, dashes about the country on endless book tours.

Beautiful and mysterious, Lady Caroline hints of a need to “get away” from men, and be alone,  while Mrs Graves claims to have counted among her close friends, a number of famous poets, all conveniently dead.

Can these four women survive in one another’s company? Will Italy be able to survive them? As soon as the curtain opens for act two, revealing a stage miraculously transformed into a Mediterranean paradise, suffused with wisteria and bathed in sunlight, the play also introduces two important characters. For comic effect  there is Costanza, the servant, and to move the plot along there is their host and landlord, Antony Wilding, a young English  veteran who has settled in Italy in order to heal emotionally from his wartime experiences.

During the month of April, the ambiance of this warm and beautiful place must inspire two barren marriages to be revitalized, two lonely strangers to  discover each other, and a mean spirited old lady to loosen up and live.

As I noted, the play is meant to be both comic and serious. The Sherman production  does a very good job with the first part. This is especially true with the acting  of Paula Anderson, who positively steals the show as the cantankerous Costanza, muttering and gesturing and rolling her eyes to convey her exasperation with the behavior of some of the Inglese.

Similarly, Jim Lones  is very effective in the other  role that is primarily comedic, Lotty’s husband Mellersh Wilton.

Director Susan Abrams is very good at getting her performers to use body language, and they use it to milk plenty of laughs from the audience.

It is the serious side of the story that is less clearly delineated. As Antony Wilding, James Hipp is the most charming landlord anyone could ever hope for, but the shadows and sadness  in his character are not given enough attention. Similarly,  Mrs Graves’ fear of death (which has already claimed her husband and so many acquaintances) needs to be sharpened. Katherine Almquist is a fine actress but her role here comes across as too much of a caricature.

Alison Bernhardt does an excellent job capturing the languid ennui of Lady Caroline, while Viv Berger handles the doublesided role of Frederick Arnott, concerned husband and his alter-ego, the woman-chasing novelist.

As the resolutely cheerful Lotty Wilton, the sparkplug of the play who encourages everyone to bask in the sunshine of the present,  Beth Bonnabeau  ties the whole story together and finds for all of them, the happiness of that enchanted April.

The play was certainly enjoyable and entertaining. Sherman is off to a good start and promises more to come.

(Performances continue through May 15, on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8, and on Sunday, May 2, at 2. Tickets are $20.

Call 860-354-3622 for reservations and additional information.)