Everything runs like clockwork in the TheatreWorks production of Matthew Burnett’s “Theophilus North.” Mark Anderson Phillips, as Theophilus, glides around the stage in the title role on a sumptuously fat-tired bicycle, while a competent supporting cast marks off spring and summer in a series of vignettes set among the mansions, tennis courts, speakeasies, and beaches of 1920s Newport, Rhode Island.
But clockwork is not the stuff of which drama is made. Conflict is. And while that conflict is amply written into the script by Mr. Burnett, it is too broadly staged by director Leslie Martinson.
The play is an adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s novel of the same name, and the first rule of adaptation is to convey the author’s intent. Mr. Burnett has managed to preserve the author’s subtle ache for connection, but Ms. Martinson’s direction shoots it all out a cannon. Thankfully, the emotional truth of the performances saves the evening from burlesque.
Patrick Sieler is a very pleasant poke in the ribs as the cockney “gentleman’s gentleman,” Henry Simmons. Mr. Sieler also plays Hilary Jones, a coach who is advised by Theophilus to bore his bride away by talking nonstop about sports. He succeeds with her by making small town athletics sound positively epiphanous to us.
Julia Brothers moves faithfully (like the ferry boat she represents in one scene) between a tip-toeing lady’s companion, Cora, and a sure-footed, self-made Mrs. Cranston. She has the ability to pinpoint emotional nuance.
Jackson Davis as philosopher-invalid Dr. Bosworth, and Craig Marker as painfully repressed adolescent Charles Fenwick, both get us guffawing. And if you enjoy Hugh Laurie’s portrayals of Bertie Wooster, you’ll relish Mr. Phillips as Theophilus.
“I am a part of all that I have met,” a line from Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” is repeated throughout the play. Mr. Burnett has done admirably in fitting what he has met of Theophilus North into the little wooden “O” of dramaturgy. May his next effort prove him even more deft.
INFORMATION
TheatreWorks’ “Theophilus North” runs through August 12 at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Tickets: $21-$57. Call 903-6000 or log on at theatreworks.org.
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