Review: She Stoops to Conquer is Flawless Fun at Williamstown Theatre Festival

Gathering his family of actors around him, Martin has brought this romantic comedy of manners in the Eighteenth Century to a brilliant sheen, with more laughs than I have ever heard this play inspire in the past. He has raised it to the level of farce and satire. Yet it has a literary and theatrical fidelity that maintains its place as a classic piece of theatre. It is all the foregoing in one exquisite evening of theatre.

This is the kind of play that is a perfect fit for Williamstown: sophisticated and witty, but not at all dry. She Stoops to Conquer has a large cast of sixteen who engage in a wild weekend of manipulation and matchmaking. It all revolves around the daughter of the Hardcastles, (Mia Barron) being proffered for a marriage to Charles, the son of the Marlows (Jon Patrick Walker).

Pictured left to right: Mia Barron, Jon Patrick Walker in a scene from She Stoops To Conquer at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Photos by T. Charles Erickson.

Up until last year, Nicholas Martin was the artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and now he is back doing what he obviously does best – directing. He knows what he is doing – focusing his cast on job one – telling an outrageous story with a straight face. He manages to keep the proceedings elegant, in a classy setting, even as the Festival’s upscale and sophisticated audience foregoes its reserve and is soon laughing their pants off.

Largely responsible for this state of affairs are two incorrigible actors, Brooks Ashmanskas and Kristine Nelson. I have seen many a Tony Lumpkin over the years, but none work it like Ashmanskas. Comedy is hard work, but he makes it look easy. I used to think that Nathan Lane was the funniest actor to ever appear at the WTF but with this performance, Brooks has stolen the crown from him.

Nicholas Martin keeps the cast moving at breakneck speed. As one door closes another opens in the most farcical barrage of entrances and exits you will ever see. Ashmanskas, of course, is no stranger to farce, having been in A Flea in Her Ear a few years ago, directed by John Rando.

Kristine Nielsen in a scene from She Stoops To Conquer at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Photos by T. Charles Erickson.

Against such theatrical nonsense, it was the task of Paxton Whitehead as Mr. Hardcastle, Mia Barron as Miss Hardcastle and their opposites, Jon Patrick Walker as Charles Marlow and Richard Easton as Sir Charles to keep the proceedings earthbound. Jeremy Webb as George Hastings tried too, but against the two comics and a retinue of ill prepared servants they didn’t have a chance of bringing normalcy to the household made into an Inn for a day.

The handsome set by David Korins was well designed, giving the impression of a grand manor, with perfect lighting design by Ben Stanton. The set transformed itself to a tavern and then a garden and back to the Manor House without a hiccup. The sound design by Drew Levy with its trumpeted fanfares made it feel that we were watching PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre – only “live on stage” without pledge breaks. In actual 3-D to boot, no special glasses needed. The costumes by Gabriel Berry suggested the 18th Century and its excesses most effectively, though in a palette of colors and materials that were distinctly modern.

Nicholas Martin first directed this version of She Stoops to Conquer at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, and we are fortunate that this iteration is based on it.

Without having to update the script, or add modern touches like cellphones or modern dress, Martin has taken a broom to the older conventions of the play and swept away decades of accumulated dust. Gone was the stale classroom odor from force-feeding it to students in English class.