Театральный фестиваль Stratford: пьеса «Дао мира» превращает привилегию в острую комедию

Stratford Festival review: The Tao of the World turns privilege into pointed comedy Article content There is something wonderfully excessive and modern about The Tao of the World, Jovanni Sy’s contemporary riff on William Congreve’s 1700 Restoration comedy, The Way of the World. Set among Singapore’s fabulously wealthy upper class at the height of the COVID pandemic, this is Congreve by way of Crazy Rich Asians: romantic entanglements, scheming relatives, financial leverage and sexual duplicity, all dressed up in gorgeous clothes and propelled by characters who rarely encounter a problem out of which they cannot charm, bully, or buy themselves. At the centre of all this is Arabella Flynn, a character who could easily become intolerable. Instead, Agnes Tong 唐若馨 makes her a delight, imbuing Arabella’s selfishness with enough energy, wit and vulnerability to keep us on her side even when we know she’s in the wrong. Tong moves confidently through the production, speaking to the audience, interacting across scenes and timelines, and repeatedly breaking the fourth wall. It’s her energy that drives the piece. Arabella is surrounded by an appropriately complicated web of lovers, relatives and opportunists. Manami Hara 原真奈美 cuts an elegant and imposing figure as Lady Helena Yu, Arabella’s controlling mother and keeper of the family purse strings, including the trust held for her niece, Millicent Tan. Millicent has fallen for Edward Lim, played with appealing swagger and warmth by Angus Yam 任孝聰. Unfortunately for Millie, and every other character, Edward is Arabella’s former lover and friend, and she wants him back, despite already having a husband. And that is hardly the play’s only complication. There are schemes, disguises, family secrets, mistaken identities, and controlling shares in a billion-dollar company. It’s a lot to handle, but Sy and his talented cast keep the audience engaged the entire time. Some of the evening’s biggest laughs belong to Sara-Jeanne Hosie as Eleanor Marwood, Lady Helena’s obsequious sidekick, who is also sleeping with Arabella’s husband, Trevor Flynn (Tim Campbell). Hosie’s physical comedy is terrific as she transforms from Lady Helena’s long-suffering acolyte to a gleefully scheming adulteress. Her scenes with Tong, Hara and Campbell are among the production’s comic highlights. Karthik Kadam is equally memorable as Arabella’s best friend, Devan Pillay, a larger-than-life presence who initially provides some of the show’s broadest comedy. But Kadam also handles Devan’s complicated romantic situation and eventual confrontation with Arabella beautifully. For much of the first act, the pandemic setting can seem almost arbitrary, an unusually specific backdrop for such an exuberant comedy of manners. But the purpose of this setting is revealed when a poignant turn in the second act abruptly changes the play’s perspective. Suddenly the ensemble’s “essential worker” characters are brought into sharper focus, forcing both the audience and the play’s privileged protagonists to reckon with lives previously relegated to the margins. It is a clever shift. While the upper-class characters have spent much of the evening desperately manoeuvring to get what they want — money, sex, marriage, independence — the people serving them are struggling with something much more fundamental. Nestor Lozano Jr., Nadine Villasin, and Jennifer Villaverde bring needed heart and perspective as spa employees whose experiences temporarily stop the action and widen the play’s socioeconomic lens. What had been an entertaining period update suddenly becomes something more pointed: a comedy about privilege in which the people usually treated as background are, albeit briefly, allowed to occupy centre stage. The cast is uniformly strong, moving impressively between broad physical comedy and pathos. Ming Wong 黄慧明’s costume design is bright, fresh and exuberant, with stunning palettes and imaginative pattern mixing that make the stage feel alive. Lorenzo Savoini’s set, by contrast, is functional and minimal, allowing other elements, including Sophie Tang 汤语菲’s lighting, Sy’s fluid direction, and the performers themselves, to define the various playing spaces. But not every theatrical experiment lands: a few scenes involving music feel a bit forced and may have worked more naturally on film, and a few times the “Singlish” accents slip, bringing us back to Canada. But these are small quibbles in a production juggling so many tonal, narrative and theatrical elements with such confidence and joy. From its centering of multicultural and queer characters, to its gleeful dismantling of romantic convention, The Tao of the World ultimately has something generous to say about family, found family and friendship. Early in the evening, Arabella promises the audience that she is going to marry the love of her life. Without giving away Sy’s clever conclusion, she does … in a way. The moment brings the play satisfyingly full circle, crystallizing its ideas about love, class, legacy and autonomy. But Sy, seemingly always questioning, even pokes at his own happy ending, once again centering the play’s working-class characters as a poignant reminder that a happy ending is the ultimate privilege. The Tao of the World continues in repertory at the Tom Patterson Theatre until Sept. 26.