La Bête
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Cititour.com Review
Do we really need a revival of a play that barely lasted about a month on Broadway the first time around (about 20 years ago)? La Bête, now under the crisp direction of Matthew Warchus, and direct from the West End, offers a tour de force performance from Mark Rylance (recently a Tony winner for another British transplant, Boeing-Boeing) and a terrific cast including the ever-ready David Hyde Pierce and the lovely Joanna Lumley (that some will recognize from AbFab"). Yet it struggles to find balance.
If you can reconcile the uncouth from the opposite with your own sense of decorum, then La Bête may thread its way into your gray matter as less a disgusting display of fart jokes and the like, and more an allegory for our current climate of reality TV as entertainment vs. the most recent PBS outing. It's either easy to dismiss as unpleasant, or impossible not to embrace as genius. Exactly like the conundrum the text puts forth.
In France, 1654, Rylance is Valere, the most obnoxious lout imaginable who is also a popular playwright. When the Princess (Lumley) decides that his entertainments could add a little spice to her current troupe of players, headed by Elomire (Pierce), they are faced with the unpleasant task of fighting for elegance in a time of debauchery.
Playwright David Hirson's comic time machine is composed entirely in rhyming couplets, and his literate dialogue is chock-full of human foibles. Rylance is the most courageous of actors, letting loose an onslaught of that outrageousness in a 30-minute monologue near the top of the play. When Pierce is allowed to get a word in, his Elomire is significantly indignant while straining to maintain his equilibrium. It's only when the Princess finally arrives to join the vulgar Valere and the proper Elomire that the playwright reveals his intent. At about two hours without intermission, that’s a long time for Hirson’s allegory to really hit its mark.
La Bête is not for everyone, but the play will have its supporters.
By Lesley Alexander
Visit the Site
http://labetetheplay.com
Cast
David Hyde Pierce, Mark Rylance, Joanna Lumley, Stephen Ouimette, Lisa Joyce, Greta Lee, Robert Lonsdale, Michael Milligan, Liza Sadovy, Sally Wingert, Deanne Lorette, Steve Routman
Open/Close Dates
Opening 9/23/2010
Closing 1/9/2011
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Music Box Theatre
239 West 45th Street
New York, NY 10036
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