Metro Pulse/Backstage/La Ronde

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What:
La Ronde

Who:
Actor's Co-op

When:
Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. through April 19

Where:
Black Box Theatre

Cost:
Call 909-9300 for info.

Sex and love chase each other's tails in La Ronde

by Paige M. Travis

There is nothing new to say about love. To review the Actor's Co-op's production of La Ronde, I could piece together a few dozen quotes from Romantic poets, Shakespeare, and some pop psychologists to address the issues dealt with in Arthur Schnitzler's play. In fact, that's one of the points of the play itself: that, since time began, lovers have been making much of time, there's nothing new under the sun, and what goes around comes around.

Written in 1900 and never intended for public performance, La Ronde is a series of 10 vignettes, each between a man and a woman in the preface and prologue of intimate relations. Herein lies the reason the play was banned for almost 20 years in Germany and Hungary. Now the play's scenes of kissing and caressing aren't so much lewd as they are private, and nowhere near as explicit as what's shown in movies and television on a regular basis. What's most striking about La Ronde is how contemporary it is. Underneath the 19th century costumes and the limited social and career options for women, the emotional issues of power, control, manipulation, desire, and greed run just as strongly through our 21st century veins.

In the first scene, a whore (Angela Church) tries to lure a soldier (Ryder Davis) to her house. It's a power struggle—she needs him to provide an income; he needs her for pleasure. But they both pretend their needs are mere whims, only for fun, not necessity. In the next scene, the soldier seduces a parlor maid (Amy Hubbard) away from a dance for a rendezvous in the park. He is a cad in gentleman's clothing; she is the most innocent of all the play's characters, which doesn't mean she lacks the same motivations as the rest. Heir Franz wants sex; Marie wants a man to escort her home and perhaps marry her.

The next scene finds Marie at work for her employer, catering to the Young Gentleman, Alfred (Dennis Perkins). He is driven to distraction by Marie's beauty and seduces her on the chaise lounge. But he has bigger fish to fry with the Young Wife, Emma (Biz Lyon), with whom he sneaks a few moments away from her husband. Later, in bed with her husband (Buddy Lucas), Emma entices him to discuss the affairs he had before they married. In the next scene he proves those days aren't over as he beds the Little Miss (Sherry Dodson) in a restaurant in Vienna. Her lack of innocence is revealed in the apartment of the Poet (Dustin Parrott), who is also involved with the Actress (Susannah Devereux). Later, she is visited by her admirer, The Count (Ben Harville), who later finds himself with the Whore. And the circle is complete.

The text of La Ronde is witty; these characters are nothing if not clever when it comes to getting what they want. Some play by the rules that society dictates: Marie can't romp with every cute soldier because a soiled reputation would hurt her chances at marrying well and escaping the likes of Alfred. Some bend the rules: Emma asks her husband if he's ever slept with a married woman. He suggests that married women who fool around die young. "But don't you think they had fun?" she suggests. Lyon's young wife clearly enjoys her role as two-timer. Of course, she's pursued by Alfred and occasionally wooed by her husband, who applies the logic that if every day were like their honeymoon, they wouldn't appreciate their time together. Sounds like male logic.

All the actors interpret their characters well. In Davis' case, perhaps too well. The role is so different from his usual nice-guy parts, but he plays the manipulating, two-faced jerk with disturbing accuracy. Lyon brings a joyful, modern exuberance to Emma, and Church is saucy and no-nonsense as the Whore. Her character is the most honest about her transactions; she makes no claims of romance, only the need for a career instead of a husband.

Sara Pat Schwabe's direction guides the actors to create some titillating love scenes without being lewd. The most private moments between each couple are implied by darkness on the stage and accompanying music from Johannes Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes, music created in the very time the play takes place. The violin parts are sometimes cheeky, sometimes lushly romantic—a perfect choice to set the tone of the play and tie together the interludes.

With all these people cajoling, cheating and manipulating, the timeless art of romance starts to resemble the bloody sport of hunting. The comparison could be distasteful to anyone who believes in a higher order of ethics or manners. But maybe those ideals—that all you need is love—are just an illusion, a distraction from the truth presented by La Ronde. To get what you want—be it love, sexual gratification, marital bliss, financial support, mere diversion—is a tricky game that requires skillful maneuvering, not, as some of us would like to think, clear, honest communication. The same themes (justifications or pick-up lines) recur in each pairing: Life is so short. Do you like me? Do you love me? You are the only one I've ever loved. Although the characters' answers are ultimately contradicted by their behavior, the fact still remains: These are the words we want to hear, the words that allow the game of love to continue forever.