Peace In Our Time
Antaeus Theatre Company has produced a wonderful (double-cast) production of Noel Coward’s practically-unheard-of drama, PEACE IN OUR TIME (from 1947), directed by Casey Stangl, from an adaptation by Barry Creyton. In it, Coward posited a scenario of what would it be like for Great Britain to have lost the war to Nazi Germany, after the all-important Battle of Britain in 1940.
It is a fascinating premise, allowing dramatic builds from a budding resistance to the German conquerors, to the Nazi’s petty as well as more serious actions against the populace, to home-grown collaborators (both intellectual and low-brow), to shortages of fuel, food and, in the case of the setting, quality booze.
As is their wont, Antaeus has double-cast it in order to give their large company more chances to work and to effectively understudy every role. The two companies have been subtitled “The Stubbs Special” and “Eppes’ Cocoa” (both are satirical jabs taken from the play itself): Eppes’ Cocoa was, apparently, a popular brand of cocoa during or before WWI and Stubbs’ Special is a nasty rum/faux-pineapple drink the pub is reduced to selling because of wartime shortages. Clever titling, actually. On Thursdays and Fridays, Antaeus will mix-and-match the two casts and have labeled them “Gordon’s Gin.” The Saturday and Sunday performances will alternate the separate casts, so everybody gets seen equally.
This critic saw the first company, “Eppes’ Cocoa,” ironically, on the day Libyan dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, was killed, setting us very much on the emotional path that Coward wanted us to be on. He set his drama in a typical London pub (gorgeously executed by Tom Buderwitz) and the producers have helped make-up for the minor play-construction flaws by utilizing a small upper scrim on which to project superbly- doctored still-pictures of a London under the heel of the tyrannical conquerors (the work of John Apicella).
The publicans who run it, Fred and Nora Shattock (Steve Hofvendahl and Lily Knight in “Stubbs”/Josh Clark and Eve Gordon in “Eppes”) are what Coward saw as the salt-of-the-earth British bedrock types who he viewed as the backbone of the culture. Slightly stylized as archetypes, they, along with their daughter, Doris (Danielle K. Jones/Abby Wilde), are mourning the supposed loss of their only son, Steve (Jason Dechert/ Brian Tichnell), in the great aerial Battle of Britain. But quickly the entire family is involved in the resistance, of which their children are, in fact, heavily featured.
Some of the regulars in this pub include George Bourne (Christopher Gilmet/Daniel Bess) and his cabaret-singer wife, Lyla Vivian (Raleigh Holmes/Rebecca Mozo); Alfie Blake and his wife, Lily (Drew Doyle and Zoe Perry/Buck Zachary & Karianne Flaathen), a quarrelsome duo; gay editor Chorley Bannister (JD Cullum/Bill Brochtrup) and his boyfriend, Bobby (Paul Culos/Jesse Sharp); Gladys Mott, a good-time girl (Joanna Strapp/Belen Greene); Alma Boughton (Kendra Chell/Ann Noble) and her best-friend, the acerbic writer Janet Braid (Emily Chase/Rebekah Tripp). Add into this mix the head of British Gestapo, Albrect Richter (Jason Henning/Rob Nagle), upon whose entrances the entire pub quiets down, uneasy in his presence.
Coward did a good, but not great, job of having the various elements of something as huge as a conquering Axis force and the counter-invasion from the Allies (USA, Canada, South African, Australia) interact in this small setting. Invariably, the results border for today’s audiences on melodrama, but the heart-felt sentiments of both sides are clearly articulated.
Minor play-construction flaws aside, what is most problematic is the addition of nine songs that Mr. Coward wrote for other productions, even a few years after PEACE IN OUR TIME ended its 167-performance run on the West End. (It never had a Broadway production.) The trouble is that half of the songs are not up to Cowardian-snuff. “London Pride” (a sweet tribute-song to the small white flower that survived cataclysmic bombings in London) is well used. The idea was that since it is a pub, a social club of sorts, singing is a part of the general atmosphere. So, when the publican, Fred, sings “Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans,” it is a political (albeit dangerous) statement and when Mr. and Mrs. Granger, an older couple whose son miraculously shows up, injured, sing “Where Are The Songs We Sung?”, it adds emotional clout. But the addition of the cabaret singer singing directly to us, instead of the crowd, thus breaking the fourth wall, is jarring. The interpolation of these songs (and perhaps other choices) needs major rethinking, although Creyton’s adaptation is tight, including the addition of a newly-written character of Archie, piano-player to all, well done by Richard Levinson, who also was the musical arranger (John Allee is in the “Stubbs” company).
As is typical of this esteemed classical-theatre company, however, the acting is top-level. However, if there is one small fly-in-the-ointment in this production, it’s the level of British accents from a totally non-Brit cast that is, at best, mostly okay, but not pluperfect. Still, the quality of what does count is very high. Cullum, Henning, Knight, and especially Chase, make the most of the material in “Eppes” and Brocktrup, Clark, Flaathen, Noble and Trip, and most especially Nagle, shine in “Stubbs.” It’s high-end acting, for the most part, allowing us deep insights into their characters’ lives.
Through December 18th, 2011, @ Deaf-West Playhouse, 5112 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, Ca 91601. Reservations or information: 818.506.1983 or www.Antaeus.org.