'Miser' is generous with its humor
The director of Stageworks' production of The Miser has discovered anew the appeal of Moliere's satiric works: They're still funny after all these centuries.
By ROBERT HICKS
Published July 6, 2006
Jim Rayfield discovered the realistic comedies of Moliere at the Asolo Theatre as a college student in the 1960s.
"Through the years, I've returned to his comedies," Rayfield says. "I think what fascinates me about Moliere is that he is still funny."
Rayfield will direct a Stageworks production of the 17th century French playwright's The Miser at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's Shimberg Playhouse tonight through July 23.
The cast features Richard Coppinger, one of the Tampa's best-known character actors, in the lead role of Harpagon, an obdurate, suspicious and avaricious miser, who shuns his family for love of his cash box. "I'm playing up Harpagon's buffoonery, but Jim has helped me to understand his humanity," says Coppinger.
The Stageworks production will use modern clothing, and the language will be modernized slightly to suit contemporary tastes.
Moliere is well known for employing popular French farce and classical comedy to make fun of the middle class. He based The Miser on Pot of Gold, a comic drama by the Roman playwright Plautus.In The Miser, a great deal of the comedy arises from the conflicts between the older generation - Count Anselme (Bill Hendricks) and Harpagon - and their children, Harpagon's son Cleante (Eric Burgess), his daughter Elise (Jackie Rivera), Anselme's son Valere (Kevin Whalen) and his daughter Mariane (Magali Naas).
"I've tried to stress the interaction between the characters," says Rayfield. "I think that's where the comedy comes from. I've told the actors that there's a comic engine that Moliere creates that makes each scene funny. It may be talking at cross purposes or withholding information from each other."
There's a lot of deceit in The Miser, cat and mouse games among several suitors in both generations who are intent on marrying.
Rayfield says he didn't remember much about a production of The Miser he saw at Florida State University in the 1960s. However, when Anna Brennen, executive artistic director of Stageworks, invited him to direct the 1668 comedy, he reimmersed himself in the unrepentant character of Harpagon and in Moliere's satirical world.
Count Anselme becomes Moliere's deus ex machina at the end of the play. Revelations about his past and his true identity restore equilibrium and social order, in keeping with the tenets of classical comedy.
Ironically, Anselme's love of family and his generosity allow Harpagon to be happy in his isolation: a man left alone without love of family, possessed by his obsession for money.
"I think it's interesting when someone can write something that remains funny through the years," Rayfield says. "We're still attracted to his characters and their situations. You can look at other writers' comedies from more recent periods that just aren't funny anymore."
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Moliere's The Miser by Stageworks, preview 8 p.m. today, then 8 p.m. Friday through Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday, through July 23. Shimberg Playhouse at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 1010 N MacInnes Place, Tampa. $16.50-$22.50. (Preview $10.) (813) 229-7827; or www.tbpac.org.