Your Arlington, your views

The following review was submitted by Stephanie Downing:

Over the last half decade I’ve seen many plays performed by high school students and each time I am thoroughly amazed. The Triumph of Love by Marivaux proved to be no exception; the vivid costumes, versatile set, and excellent acting all culminate to make this play a triumph.

The “Triumph of Love” ran in rep along side Moliere’s “Scapin” from November 5th through the 8th at Arlington High School. “Triumph” is the story of the love struck princess, Leonide, who connives her way into spending time with her true love, Agis. Along the way she masquerades as a boy, seducing Leotine, one of Agis’s guardians, and then reveals to her secret to make Leotine’s brother, Agis’s other guardian, fall in love with her. While both these schemes are going on, Leonide also reveals her true gender to Agis, under a false name because he hates Princess Leodine. The witty servants assist her, while falling in love at the same time. Lost yet? Yet the audience need not despair.

Although director Michael Byrne kept the dialogue quick and the action continually moving, the intricacies of the plot were easy to follow. The brightly colored costumes in vibrate oranges, maroons, greens, and blues visually link the characters. Agis, Leotine, and Hermocrate were all dressed in cool colors, showing their relation as a sort of family; Leonide and her servant Corine both wear bold warm colors, setting them apart from the household. Leonide and Agis wore orange and blue, respectively, to show their initial distance, because of Agis’s predisposed hatred towards Princess Leonide. The two conniving servants, Corine and Harlequin, both wore maroon and gold; the other servant, Dimas, was distinctively set apart in dull earth tones.

The set was remarkably simple. Two symmetrical “houses,” with a window and door each, are connected by a black and white checkerboard pattern rake and two chairs move about but remain on stage the entire show. Although the stationary set was the same for Scapin, which I had just seen, I fully believed that this was a different world, with different characters and a different story. The stage picture was clean and uncluttered, relying on the actors to animate the story.

And they certainly rose to the challenge. Lilia Rubin, playing Leonide, explored a full range of vocal choices, giving each of Leonide’s disguises a distinctive personality. Ryan Baker’s character of Harlequin provided many of the plays comic moments with his lively actions and gestures. Corine, played by Laura Gillian, skillfully supported Leonide and Harlequin with a delightful mix of varying voices and energetic gestures. Rosalie Sard and James Wallace, playing Leotine and Hermocrate respectively, did a wonderful job portraying prim characters that were slowly being overcome by love. Sean Davenport did an admirable job showing Agis’s naivety and innocence without making him seem unintelligent and Sam Atlas’s performance as the stern disagreeable Dimas supplied another enjoyable comedic layer.

All of these elements combined to make the “Triumph of Love” a glorious success. I would like to express my thanks to Mr. Bryne, for directing another wonderful show and allowing the senior class to see the play during school, to the actors, for bringing the story to life so convincingly, and to the stage and set crew, for their behind the scenes work. Congratulations on an excellent show!

Stephanie Downing

The following review was written by Danny Chin, a student at Arlington High School:

While the curtain may have closed on one of Arlington High’s fall comedies, there is still time to see “A Triumph of Love” at the Lowe Auditorium (the show starts at 7:30, and tickets are only $7). Triumph whisks the audience off to pre-Revolution France, where a young trickster Leonide, played by the talented Lilia Rubin, charms a trio of royals while she schemes and plots. Supporting Leonide are her aid Corine, played by Laura Gillan, and the comical Harlequin, played by Ryan Baker. These three mischief makers, teaming up with the gardener Diman, played by Sam Atlas, aim to pull the wool over the eyes of the scholar Hermocrate, played by James Wallis, and his sister Leotine, played by Rosalie Sard.

“A Triumph of Love” is a story of mistaken, and hidden, identity that will draw audiences in with witty humor and clever one-liners. Marivaux’s masterpiece is translated by Stephen Wadsworth, with director Michael Byrne taking a few snippets from other interpretations to amalgamate a delightful, light-hearted comedy. Each actor contributes generously, whether it is a bit of physical comedy or a scintillating one liner sure to draw out laughs. As the title suggests, there is more to this work than just comedy, there is a love story attached to the good-natured jests.

Although some audiences may shudder at the idea of a romantic comedy, “A Triumph of Love” focuses mainly on the comedy of love; the clever Leonide fools not one, but three people into marriage plans. But how does she do this? Disguised as a man, Leonide infiltrates the house of her would-be sworn enemy and begins her guise: Leonide’s true goal is to steal Agis’s heart, not his life. The innocent Agis, played by Sean Davenport, knows nothing of her scheme and soon falls into her web of playful deceit.

Young Lilia Rubin brings a great deal of experience to the role of Leonide and truly inhabits the young firecracker with great zeal. Ryan Baker, the “fool” of the play is anything but, he combines physical comedy with a sharp wit to keep the “smarter” characters in their place. His upper-class comrades are often the butt of many jokes, but they hold their own in a few instances. So how exactly will love triumph over all this comedy? You’ll have to find out for yourself!

Danny Chin