Few plays manage to be both funny and depressingly philosophical at once, but Tom Stoppard succeeds at both in his Tony Award-winning "The Real Thing."
The play provides a visual into the lives of four characters so petty and silly that one can't help but laugh at them. As these characters, the artists and intellectuals of their time, search for love, it becomes ever clearer that nothing can fill the depravity that slowly takes over their lives.
The show focuses on Henry (Rufus Collins), a playwright whose marriage dissolves due to the affair he is having with one of his actors' wives. Henry is described by the script as "amiable but can take care of himself." His wife Charlotte (Meg Gibson), on the other hand, is "less amiable and can take even better care of herself."
The opening scene of the show is a selection from one of Henry's plays, in which Charlotte and Henry's lover's husband, Max (Matthew Boston), are the primary actors. In the selection, Charlotte plays an adulterous wife whose snooping husband, Max, discovers her secret. The rest of the show imitates this play-within-a-play irony.
Rounding out the foursome of disloyal partners is Annie (Kate Nowlin), Henry's lover and Max's wife, described as "very much like the woman Charlotte has ceased to be."
"The Real Thing" is frequently cited as Stoppard's most autobiographical play - many believe the character of Henry represents the bard. Perhaps like Stoppard, Henry labors to write plays of great philosophical meaning. He finds himself unable to write love truthfully, and one can only wonder if the lack of meaningful love in his own life has something to do with this.
This dilemma is mirrored brilliantly in the play; the pop music that Henry is drawn to serves as the transition between scenes. Lyrics from songs like "I'm a Believer" by the Monkeys and "You've Lost that Loving Feeling" by The Righteous Brothers reflect themes of the play and demonstrate that Henry is not quite as profound as he would like to be.
Indeed, Henry is a sort of anti-hero that Collins just barely pulls off. A bit one-dimensional, he yells to demonstrate a change in emotion when more subtle means would be more effective. As a result, he comes across as being somewhat flat, but manages to convey Henry's complex character nonetheless.
Kate Nowlin, on the other hand, struggles with the subtly her role requires. In the second act, Annie and Henry have married, and it is clear that two years of marriage have turned her into a woman more like Charlotte. She is cynical and disillusioned, in sharp contrast to the first act - this dichotomy proves difficult for Nowlin to pull off.
Max's place onstage is fleeting, which is a shame. He is an affable man who interacts well with others in the play. As Annie admits to her affair, the whole theater fills with Boston's quiet intensity. He is extraordinary, sinking into a pitiful state of pathetic fury while maintaining a skilled restraint.
Annie stares at the husband she is abandoning and the best she can say is, "I'm awfully sorry, Max." This line is indicative of the mood of the entire play: soft irony at the trivialities of these lives.
Charlotte is another player whose time onstage is regrettably short. She is the perfect representation of skepticism and disenchantment with the world around her. Without Gibson's fine performance, the contrast Annie presents and her eventual transformation into a Charlotte-character would be incomplete.
Beyond the performances, the set is magnificent; grand and smart, it serves as the ideal backdrop to the mayhem on stage. Accolades go to the scenic designer Kris Stone for her imaginative creations. The Huntington Theatre was a superb setting for Stoppard's play. A certain refinement is all that is lacking.
The real cleverness of the play, however, is its quiet cynicism, although many times the actors are too extravagant to do justice to the subtlety of the script.
Even so, the play is wildly enjoyable, both thoughtful and laugh-out-loud hilarious. With "The Real Thing," the Huntington Theatre Company continues its tradition as one of Boston's leading professional theatre groups, leaving the audience thoughtful, amused and completely satisfied.
