Scapin is a hilarious journey through the lives of the Hatfields and McCoys of the 1600’s, known as the house of Geronte and the house of Argante. Engaging the audience, utilizing unsuspecting theater goers as actors, combining modern movie soundtracks and jingles to enhance the character creation and precise acting that creates bursts of laughter from the audience loud enough to drown out the next line, is what makes Scapin worthy of a family evening.
The play, performed in the beautiful Stevenot Amphitheater in Murphys, begins with a dimming of the lights as the strains of the Pink Panther float through the air, setting the stage for certain hilarity.
Sons of both households have fallen in love with penniless beauties and are in need of money to solve their dilemmas. Enter Scapin. As servant to the household of Geronte, Scapin and his friend Sylvestre, servant of the household of Argante, set out to solve the sons’ problems through much bending of the truth, outright lies and manipulation of facts.
As all know, one lie begets another and another and so on, until ultimately the one who cast the lie becomes so twisted in the web it becomes difficult to remember where the truth stopped and the lie began.
Sean Lewis, playing the part of Octave, lending his special flair for the dramatic combined with intense vanity, kept the crowd in stitches.
Tyler Mattson, playing the part of Sylvestre, embraces the goofy, ready to please puppy dog mentality, making each scene he is in a scene stealer. His body language and facial expressions convey every word in his lines with clarity and humor that shoots straight to the funny bone. (Having seen Mattson in Jekyll and Hyde, Romeo and Juliet and now in Scapin, he may just be one stage actor to watch. The variety of characters for which he can embody is impressive to say the least.)
Deanna Grady, Hyacinth, portrayed her part beautifully for her first production with MCT. Sweet, gentle, and in love. Her character reminiscent of a Disney princess, flowing across the stage, yet strong and capable.
Vickie Hall, Zerbinette, had so much fun with her character as the gypsy girl, her laughter rolled through the crowd making you want to laugh with her. Her suggestive tone so under played, kids would miss it, adults however, pegged it each time. It was fun to see the children in the audience looking at their parents oddly wondering what they thought was so funny…well, it was Zerbinette.
Clocky McDowel, Scapin, was a whirlwind of lines, activity and action. A schemer to the core, one must wonder if this was type casting….hmmm. Serious is not a word Scapin is familiar with. Scapin prefers to live on the edge, get all he can out of life, after all, as a servant, there is nowhere to go but up. Playing off of the other actors Clocky seems to thoroughly enjoy each scene, prancing around a bit, waiting for the laughter to die down to deliver his next line. A delight to watch in action.
Each actor was inspiring and hilarious. Scapin was an evening worth repeating.
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