THEATRE REVIEW: THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF ANATOL

JOHN COULBOURN, Special to TorSun
10 JAN 2013
R: 3/5

Pictured: Mike Shara

TORONTO - Today, it’s hard to believe playwright Arthur Schnitzler set the world of fin de siecle Vienna on its rather staid ear with a series of one act playlets — curtain raisers, really — entitled ANATOL, particularly after you’ve seen THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF ANATOL, playwright/director Morris Panych’s new adaptation of Shnitzler’s work which launched a new year on the mainstage of the Tarragon Theatre Wednesday, after a Vancouver première a few years ago.


Both in Shnitzler’s tale and Panych’s collected adaptation, the story is built around the romantic entanglements of his titular character — a deeply attractive but deeply shallow man-about-town for whom falling madly in love signals not a call to settle down, but rather as signal to start of the search for the next ‘victim’ in his ongoing series of conquests.


For both the Tarragon production, and his earlier Vancouver run, Panych has chosen to build the action around Mike Shara’s Anatol, and, from a comedic perspective, it is a wise choice. Shara turns in yet another of his easy, loopy loveable comedic performances and has his audience eating out of his hand mere moments into the 90 minute run of the show. And Panych’s casting acumen doesn’t stop there, following it up with impressive turns from Robert Persichini, cast as Max, best friend and emotional foil to the mercurial Anatol — and from assistant director Adam Paolozza as Gregor, majordomo and valet.


Meanwhile, Nicole Underhay plays all seven of the women with whom Anatol is serially smitten and here, Panych is considerably less successful. While Underhay’s string of performances underline the fact that our ‘hero’ falls in love with the same woman time after time, that is accomplished in the first three costume changes. And, just in case math is not your long suit, that leaves four more wardrobe changes as Panych keeps striking his point like a gong.


Happily, those costume changes are pleasant, thanks to designer Charlotte Dean, and as usual, Ken MacDonald’s set — a lovely blend of art nouveau and Secession sensibilities — offers some ornate eye candy as distraction. But ultimately, something has been lost in Panych’s translation/adaptation, for despite Shara’s fine performance, with Persichini playing a curmudgeonly Colonel Pickering to his amorous Henry Higgins, Panych hasn’t figured out a reason for doing it all.


If, as Schnitzler seems to have intended, he’s staging it to make some sort of comment on the morality of the day, then the changing morals of the last century and more demand he probe far deeper, sexually and emotionally, than he does here. If, on the other hand, his intention is to turn ANATOL into farce, then he needs a whole lot more froth. Like Schnitzler’s Reigen — better known today as La Ronde — THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF ANATOL just keep going around in circles, and frankly, it’s far more of a merry-go-round than a roller-coaster.