Metro Pulse/Backstage/On the Razzle

Editor's Note: Due to a press release snafu regarding the dates Razzle would be playing, this show will, unfortunately, close before this review is published. Please check out any of the other fine shows that will play this weekend.

UT's Theatre Department pulls out the stops for Stoppard

by Paige M. Travis

Tom Stoppard is my favorite playwright. He first got my attention when I read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in high school and officially won me over upon seeing Arcadia at the Clarence Brown Theatre in 2000. And, as it turns out, I thoroughly enjoyed The Real Inspector Hound at Theatre Central somewhere along the way and didn't even know it was Stoppard. In his favor, Stoppard is a witty Brit, with a keen sense of humor and timing and emotional poignancy and intellectual prodding. Not every one of his plays gets a full serving of these traits, but when Stoppard is trying for one thing or another, he usually hits his mark. Like On the Razzle, which is being presented by the University of Tennessee Theatre Department in the Clarence Brown's Lab Theatre space.

First produced in 1981, Razzle is Stoppard's generous interpretation of a 1842 play by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy. Critics have complained that Stoppard plays fast and loose with the original, not to mention the historical accuracy of 1898 Vienna. They say that shopkeepers wouldn't make Shakespearean references in their soliloquies about the joys of commerce, or that certain lewd jokes wouldn't have crossed the lips of decent folks in mixed company. But these stiffs miss the point entirely. Stoppard creates a fantasy world in which anything can happen. It's completely enjoyable, even if it's not true to the history books and not made up of very substantial stuff.

Herr Zangler (Zach Best) is a grocer who caters to the higher classes. He's about to become engaged to Madame Knorr (Marissa Weaver), but he's always on the rampage trying to separate his young niece Marie (Brittany Eldridge) and her suitor Sonders (Jacob Bell) and monitoring the activities of his chief grocery clerk Weinberl (Matt Howard) and apprentice Christopher (Morgan Scott). Zangler has a particularly bad way with words, which becomes the source of much of the play's humor and Stoppard's witticisms. Brawny and bearded, Best plays Zangler as a roaring lion who's mildly befuddled; mostly he's unaware of his hilarious, if problematic, turns of phrase. At the end of scene one, Zangler gives the audience an overview of the situation, considers the facts, and declares: "One false move, and we'll have a farce on our hands." Indeed! The play continues with episodes of mistaken identity, cross-town chases and multiple women in Scottish outfits (the town having gone crazy for Macbeth and Sir Walter Scott).

The play has 15 actors in 21 roles, and not a weak one among them. Of particular note are: Lindsey Andrews as Frau Fischer, a friend of Mme. Knorr who gets caught up in the antics of Weinberl and Christopher while they're carousing in Vienna. Andrews creates a real electricity on stage that surpasses her somewhat marginal role. Ryder Davis' performance of Melchior made me wish that Stoppard had written more stage time for Zangler's devious servant. His twinkling eyes and mischievous smile are at once innocent and roguish and totally captivating. Mandi Lawson creates a warm mix of humor and melodrama as Miss Blumenblatt, the maiden aunt who is supposed to harbor the virgin niece.

Timing is very im-portant in comedy, and even more so in farce because the actors have to move quickly or the audience has time to realize the holes in the plot structure. Stoppard's story may not have much depth, but it's the brand of intellectual and physical humor (with a little scatological and sexual antics thrown in for good measure) that you don't get much these days. The mostly student cast, directed by Carol Mayo Jenkins, tackles the joke-a-minute challenge with gusto but varied success. These kinds of maneuverings are difficult for even the most seasoned professionals. People in the audience picked up on most of the jokes and word play, but with the lines being delivered so quickly, it's a challenge to hear every line, laugh at the joke and then be ready for the next one. That's just the nature of Stoppard. He's almost too smart for his own good. But it's a good time trying to keep up.

Since Razzle is just one of several plays being presented by Knoxville theater companies during the month of October, I encourage people to get out and see as many plays as possible. Theatre Central is doing a collection of short pieces by Christopher Durang, a caustic and subversive playwright who isn't performed frequently enough in the area. Plus there's the musical Dreamgirls at the Bijou, the Ibsen-by-way-of-Bergman production of Nora at the Clarence Brown Theatre, and a funny Victorian-era play, On the Verge, from the Actors Co-op. I don't know why everything exciting of a cultural nature has to happen all at once in October, but it does, so take advantage of it while the city is alive with activities besides those involving a pigskin and a tailgate party.