The show is fast-paced, with many plot twists and madcap stage choreography. The opening and slamming of doors and windows, characters coming in and out of same, and running all over the place, is charmingly vaudevillian. No wonder Plautus himself was a great success as a writer - he's said to have written 120 or more plays, of which 20 still survive in their entirety.
As a child I saw the movie AFTH, starring Zero Mostel, Buster Keaton, Phil Silvers, and Michael Crawford. I love the pratfalls and physical comedy. AFTH was the legendary Buster Keaton's last role - the actor from silent film days. The musical score is wonderful - written by the brilliant Stephen Sondheim. The song "Comedy Tonight" is so catchy; my friend, who had never heard it before, began singing it spontaneously over the next few days. In the great tradition of Greek and eventually Roman theater - "tragedy tomorrow - comedy tonight!" - is alive and well downtown in 'The Fort' as we call it.
The cast of this current production at the Civic Theatre is spot on. When the actor portraying the soldier Gloriosus pounds out the song "Bring Me My Bride" in his deep baritone, I am simultaneously thrilled and terrified. I need to remind myself, "this is just a play!" When the talented actor who plays the slave Hysterium disguises himself as a girl and reprises the number "Lovely," mooning about himself that "I'm lovely," I'm completely convinced he is! Truly lovely, in his short tunic, hairy legs and sandals, he is: shrouded in a white gown. I don't want to give too much of the story away here, but it gets funnier.
The story is sexist - I can't change that. It is what it is. The female parts are rather stereotypical of the patriarchal times then in Rome - a shrewish wife, the sexpotly concubines, the dimwitted but luscious virgin. It all had all of the early-1960s take on gender roles at that time, when the AFTH book was written by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gilbert. Sexist though it is, the actors in Fort Wayne portraying the "working women" of the sex trade are delightful. They filled their obligations on stage with vim and relish.
Characters including twins, an S/M dominatrix, a graceful feline, a flexible gymnast, and other actresses and actors were fantastic at the choreography and stunts they had to perform. I loved their bright costumes and the classic sets. Fort Wayne Civic Theatre is doing a great job. These have been a couple of extremely challenging years for all performers. It's so good to see them back on stage in person.
There are three more performances of AFTH at the Arts United Center in downtown Fort Wayne: this Friday evening August 6 at 7:30 pm, Saturday the 7th (same), and Sunday August 8 at 2 pm. The Arts United Center is a grand place to see a play or musical performance. The 660-seat auditorium is one of Fort Wayne's most important landmarks. It was designed by the renowned architect Louis Kahn, and is the only Kahn building in the Midwest. Born in Estonia, Kahn immigrated to the US with his family at a young age, and studied at the University of Pennsylvania and worked at Yale and in private practice. Built in 1973, the building has a brick exterior, with tons of light and shadows in the sparse yet grand staircases and common areas. Seating is accessible and comfortable, even roomy, in the modern, technically updated, inner shell. Referencing a violin in a case as Kahn's inspiration, the auditorium itself is an inner compartment, with folded concrete walls making up its carapace. The box office is offering "socially distanced" seating in the back half of the theater, meaning every other row is occupied, and seats are blocked off between groups. There isn't a bad seat in the house, and tech and sound were so good I could hear every word the actors said.
Go see AFTH this weekend if you're free. Plautus's works are some of the earliest surviving comedies and dramas in Latin literature. Plautus's epitaph reads, translated:
Since Platus is dead, Comedy mourns,
The stage is deserted; then Laughter, Jest and Wit, and all Melody's countless numbers wept together.
RIP, Plautus, Buster Keaton, and all: we are truly grateful for your gifts.
Arts United Center box office:(260)422-4226
