There are two sets of palettes at work in the new Court Theatre staging of The Misanthrope. One emphasizes black and gold, especially in the exuberantly filigreed costumes created by Jacqueline Firkins. The other is all about flesh tones—deep brown to pink. Erik Hellman stands at the pale end of the spectrum, playing the brutally honest title character, Alceste, at a level of whiteness commonly associated with people of European descent. Practically everybody else onstage goes with darker, Africa-inspired hues. And then there’s Grace Gealey as Alceste’s too-clever love interest, Celimene. Both her character and her tawny complexion play both sides against the middle.
First produced in 1666, during the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, The Misanthrope is a comedy in rhymed couplets, centered on well-born, smart, but impolitic Alceste, who can’t stand the intrigues, lies, narcissism, and general two-facedness of court life—and isn’t too shy to say so. Perversely, his reckless candor seems to have made him all the more alluring to his effete fellow nobles: they hope to feed their egos by gaining his favor. Yet when Alceste tells powerful Oronte exactly what he thinks of a love sonnet Oronte has composed, all hell breaks loose. Suddenly Alceste is the defendant in a legal action.
And that’s not good. I don’t believe for a second that Newell is consciously trying to send that message, but it’s a possible, plausible reading.
Through 6/9: Wed-Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 2:30 and 7:30 PM
Court Theatre 5535 S. Ellis
773-753-4472
courttheatre.org
$45-$65
