Date: Fri 01-Aug-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Bartholomew-Fair-Players

Full Text:

(rev "Bartholomew Fair" @Town Players, 8/1/97)

Theatre Review-

Town Players Are Golden With Jonson

(with cut & dropquote)

BY SHANNON HICKS

Bartholomew Fair is a lengthy play. It is, as performed by the Town Players of

Newtown, a nearly 3«-hour affair that fortunately moves at a nice, crisp pace.

Ben Jonson's Elizabethan comedy is a long play, short on plot. A contemporary

of Shakespeare whose writing, along with that of many others of the time, was

overshadowed by Shakespeare's long-reaching breadth. Jonson and his works are

only recently being rediscovered, and The Town Players have done a nice job

unearthing a treasure that could have been fool's gold in the wrong hands.

Rather than choose to create a singular complex character for Bartholomew Fair

, Jonson instead wrote a play that presents scenes of an actual fair which

continued in operation annually for over seven centuries before finally

closing. Jonson, who grew up near Smithfield in England, and most certainly

attended the Bartholomew Fair during his lifetime, chose to show the "vices

and foibles of the human race," says Town Players director Ruth Anne

Baumgartner.

The picture Jonson presents of Bartholomew Fair, around its heyday in 1614, is

considered accurate. In presenting scenes of the London-area holiday fair,

from the point of view of its workers and the different classes of visitors

who attend, Jonson succeeded in capturing man depicting some of his worst

virtues.

The Town Players have undertaken an enormous task in mounting Bartholomew Fair

. The play is one many companies never even consider attempting, not only

because of Jonson unfamiliarity, but also because the Old English script is

daunting and the size of the cast needed to fill all the characters' shoes (35

characters, plus puppets for a scene in the second act) is next to impossible

for most companies, professional or not.

Fortunately, under the sturdy hand of Ruth Anne Baumgartner, the Players have

indeed filled the shoes, learned the tongue and accomplished the task. While

some of the play's nuances and subtle humors are lost, moreso at the beginning

than later into the performance, audiences are able to comprehend what is

being said on the small Newtown stage. About midway into the first act, the

audience can pick up the remarks, retorts and subtle humor written three

centuries ago.

A cast of 26 actors, with many doubling (and even tripling in a few cases) up

on parts, brings London to Newtown. One of the most interesting aspects of the

cast is its youthfulness: a large number of the players are still in school,

whether about to enter their college years or in elementary school grades. Two

of the actors, Chris Bassett and Kathleen Mooney, have just graduated from

Newtown High School.

Bassett plays a dim-witted rich young man named Bartholomew Cokes, who truly

believes the fair was named after him. Bassett is frighteningly convincing in

the role. Miss Mooney is Grace Wellborn, Cokes' unwilling fiance through an

arrangement she cannot seem to get out of. Mooney's rolling eyes and sourpuss

expressions speak volumes louder than any of the snide remarks her character

says to and about her affianced.

Connecticut Conservatory graduate Brett Galotta, who will enter college in the

fall to further study theatre, doubles as the young thief Edgworth and the

play's production assistant.

A number of the passengers to the fair are also young, but getting their feet

wet in the theatre. A few received training from their parents, such as Maggie

Frattaroli, while others made Bartholomew Fair a family event. While Cheryl

Kohler performs in the speaking role of Win Littlewit, daughters Audrey, age

six, and Chelsea also appear as passengers.

In some of the adult roles, Dick Rush, making his final appearance with the

Players before retiring to New Hampshire later this month, is hypocrisy

personified. Dame Purecraft, the character brought to life by Glenna Kean, is

both proper and clueless. Suzanne Coughlin's Ursula (a pig-woman) is a comedy

of errors, and a sad statement of an underlying cheating heart in everyone.

It is impossible to go through the cast and mention every impressive

performance because of the length of the cast list. Baumgartner's strong

directing shows in every minute of the play, however, and her assembled group

of actors is a fine choice from beginning to end.

The timing is very good. Because this is a play divided into two acts, each

act a series of vignettes, timing is important here. As dialogue - and

attention - constantly jumps from one group of actors to another and needs to

be done without a pause in dialogue, the "stepping" on each other's lines had

to be directed very closely. Baumgartner has done a brilliant job.

The length of the play may be as daunting to theatregoers as the production of

the play is to many companies at first glance. Do not let the length of time

to be spent in the theatre be a detraction for seeing Town Players'

Bartholomew Fair . It is a good story, even without a deep plot, and the

Players have done more than a "fair" job in producing Jonson's work.

Performances of Bartholomew Fair continue this weekend, Friday and Saturday

night only. Town Players perform at The Little Theatre, on Orchard Hill Road

in Newtown. All tickets are $10, seating is general admission, and curtain is

at 8:30 pm. Call 270-9144 for details, reservations.