L/r Corey Jones as Mirabell and Simon Provan as Waitwell
Mark Rutkowski
Written by William Congreve
Directed by Jesse Berger
Performances: Nov. 17, 18, 30, Dec. 1 & 2 @ 8:00 PM, 2006
Nov. 18 & 19, Dec. 3 at 2:00 PM, 2006
Oscar G. Brockett Theatre
Tickets: $16 adults, $13 UT faculty & staff, $10 students available at the TPA Ticket Office, online at www.utpac.org or by phone at 477-6060. Get Tickets.
Media and Resources:
- Cast List
- Costume Sketches by Sarah Mosher
- Director Information
- Light Plot by Paul Hancock
- Playwright Information
- Press and Reviews
- Synopsis
Synopsis: Lady Wishfort's niece Millamant is eligible to be married, and with her hand comes a healthy dowry of money. A number of men in the play are in love with Millamant and/or want to marry her for her dowry. Mirabell and Millamant are truly in love, but Mirabell has put himself in a precarious position with her aunt and guardian, Lady Wishfort, by courting her in order to get close to Millamant. Mirabell has set in motion a plan involving his servant dressing up as his uncle, and a secret arrangement with Mrs Fainall, in order to win his way back into Lady Wishfort's graces and Millamant's arms. Fainall is Mirabell's rival for the dowry of Millamant, although not her love, and he has a scheme concocted whereby he can gain both her dowry, the remainder of his wife's inheritance (she being the daughter of Lady Wishfort), and to leave her for his lover, Mrs Marwood. The competition between these two men's goals, among several other characters vying for attention, profit and love, is the story of the play.
It is a game, a contest between several men for the same women, between several men and women for the same money, and between two ways of looking at the world: progressive (inclusive of and fair to women, repartee as the soul of wit and wit as an attractive manner of delivering sincerity) and regressive (didactic and opportunistically patriarchal, repartee as a dagger of sarcasm, used to deliver blows).
It is a perfect time capsule of a particular social class and their manners of courtship and behavior, as well as a supreme example of the style of restoration comedy that was popular at the time the play was written. The characters and the language are as precise and hilarious as the best of restoration comedy, and it represents the highest finest epitome of this kind of theater.
A witty and wonderful window on another time and place that people will recognize as related to their own lives, and enjoy. Anyone who has ever been in love and struggled to be understood, or stumbled to win love, or fumbled to woo, or felt in competition for love or money, or felt the pure ecstasy of a perfect courtship, will find plenty to recognize and enjoy in this play.
Congreve, William, 1670-1729, English dramatist, b. near Leeds, educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and studied law in the Middle Temple. After publishing a novel of intrigue, Incognita (1692), and translations of Juvenal and Persius (1693), he turned to writing for the stage. His first comedy, The Old Bachelor (1693), produced when he was only 23, was extremely successful and was followed by The Double Dealer (1693) and Love for Love (1695). In 1697 his only tragedy, The Mourning Bride, was produced. About this time Congreve replied to the attack on his plays made by Jeremy Collier, who in a famous essay attacked the English stage for its immorality and profaneness. Congreve reached his peak with his last play, The Way of the World (1700), which has come to be regarded as one of the great comedies in the English language. The leading female roles in Congreve's plays were written for Anne Bracegirdle, who was probably his mistress. He never married. After 1700, Congreve did little literary work, perhaps because of the cool reception accorded his last play or because of his failing health-he suffered from gout. He subsequently held various minor political positions and enjoyed the friendships of Swift, Steele, Pope, Voltaire, and Sarah, duchess of Marlborough. The plays of Congreve are considered the greatest achievement of Restoration comedy. They are comedies of manners, depicting an artificial and narrow world peopled by characters of nobility and fashion, to whom manners, especially gallantry, are more important than morals. Congreve's view of mankind is amused and cynical. His characters are constantly engaged in complicated intrigues, usually centering around money, which involve mistaken identities, the signing or not signing of legal documents, weddings in masquerade, etc. His plays are particularly famous for their brilliance of language; for verbal mastery and wit they have perhaps been equaled only by the comedies of Oscar Wilde (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.)
OFF-BROADWAY: Red Bull Theater: Founding Artistic Director, Pericles, The Revenger's Tragedy. New York Theatre Workshop, SoHo Rep, Theatreworks, Pearl Theatre, Urban Stages, Vital Theatre, Lincoln Center Theater Director's Lab. REGIONAL: The Old Globe: Othello. Pittsburgh Public Theater: I Am My Own Wife, The Laramie Project. Washington Shakespeare Company: Marat/Sade. Arizona Shakespeare: All's Well That Ends Well (with Michael Learned). Hamptons Shakespeare Festival: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Theatre J, Asolo Theatre Company. Shakespeare Theatre Company: Associate Director 3 seasons; Carter Barron Amphitheater: King Lear, Merry Wives of Windsor; Young Company: 2 Gents. TEACHING: NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Bard College, University of Minnesota/Guthrie, Virginia Commonwealth University, Michael Howard Studios, American Academy of Dramatic Art, Academy for Classical Acting. TRAINING: Southern Utah University. Garland Wright, Guthrie Theater. Michael Kahn, Shakespeare Theatre Company. Directing Fellowship, Shakespeare's Globe in London. AWARDS: Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Director (Marat/Sade). Grant Recipient: NEA/TCG Program for Directors. Obie Award Grant: Red Bull Theater.
11/20/06 Daily Texan review: "UT troupe offers wit, giant wigs"
11/30/06 The Austin Chronicle review
- Colum Morgan as Fainall
- Corey Jones as Mirabell
- Blake DeLong as Witwoud
- Fajer Al-Kaisi as Petulant
- Jeremy Selim as Sir Wilful Witwoud
- Simon Provan as Waitwell
- Dorcas Sowunmi as Lady Wishfort
- Kate Roberts as Mrs. Millamant
- Anastasia Coon as Mrs. Marwood
- Yesenia Garcia as Mrs. Fainall
- Robbie Ann Darby as Mincing
- Marijane Binkley as Betty
- Kim Adams as Peg
- Julian Castillo as Servant
- Austin Bowerman as Servant
- Justin Kellough as Servant
