(Click on poster for production photos)

Reviews from The Weston Playhouse Production of

The School For Wives

By Moliere

Translated by Richard Wilbur

"Tell all your friends -- I certainly did!!"

"The Weston Playhouse has a superb production of Moliere's School For Wives currently on their stage.  (When I say it's superb, I want you to know that I sent e-mails about the performance to 40 or so friends the next day, a first for me.)

Speaking the translation by Richard Wilbur, the company managed to come in only slightly shy of a laugh a minute.  Even when they acted in mute tableaux vivants between scenes that advanced the plot and made the following scenes more immediately comprehensible, they were perfect. 

Director Michael Unger has produced an amazingly clear-sighted realization of the play.  Kudos to him for the work he did with the actors.  It was truly wonderful.

The first-night audience laughed uproariously, especially the women.  When Agnes reads from a book supplied by Arnolphe about the duties of women, and grows angrier page by page as she reads, the scene brought the house down. 

I cannot imagine a more subtle characterization than Stacey Branscombe's Agnes or a more heartfelt Arnolphe than Philip Kerr's, an Arnolphe who genuinely is mystified about how he got from his beginning plot to her winning counter-plot, and is hurt and cuckold, at least in his own eyes.  The servants Alain and Georgette, played by David B. Heuvelman and Valorie Hubbard, were as fractious and funny as you could want in a servant.  Sam Lloyd, Sr. and Clark Gessner play sharply characterized roles.  In the midst of all this wealth of acting talent, William Pitts is an absolutely wonderful Notary, whose impact remains long after he leaves the stage. 

The sets were purple, orange, pink, red, with roses painted on them that seemed more thorns than roses, and reminded me of Sleeping Beauty (Agnes), and Horace, the Prince, who had beat Arnolphe to the first kiss.  The sets were wonderfully telescoped into one another, with enough doors, trapdoors and windows to pop into or through that the audience kept wondering where the actors would appear next -- and laughing when they did.

In the midst of this wilderness of color, the cast wore resplendent period costumes that any noble of the period of the play would envy.

Thanks to the Weston Playhouse for restoring Moliere to their stage in such a spry, sly production.

If you're lucky, you can make the performances through this weekend, when, helas! the play will only linger as a beautiful memory."

Dan Wolfe - The Shelburne News

"Weston's 'School For Wives' showcases 

Moliere's comic genius"

"The current Weston production is a highly polished exercise in farce.  Assisted by a brilliant Richard Wilbur translation, director Michael Unger has crafted an evening of theatre that is quite funny and employs many broad farcical bits of action to amuse the audience.  ...a handsomely constructed evening of theatre." 

William Menezes - The Brattleboro Reformer

"The Weston Playhouse finishes off its stellar season with a vibrant showing of Moliere's 'School For Wives'.  Director, Michael Unger, has made excellent use of Richard Wilbur's classic poetic translation.  Even the very serious moments are not allowed to drag.  This 'School For Wives' boasts a magnificent, practical set -- perhaps the most inventive construction of this season.  

Weston again finds itself ending on a note of triumph."

Bob Couture - The Bennington Banner