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Aren’t We All
By Frederick Lonsdale
Produced by Remy Bumppo think theatre
At Victory Gardens
2257 N. Lincoln
Chicago, IL
Call 773-871-3000, tickets $19 - $33 -$38.50
Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 PM
Sundays at 2:30 PM (call for holiday exceptions)
Running 1 hrs, 55 min with intermission
Through January 8, 2006
Another refreshing British drawing room comedy of manners.
Remy Bumppo think theatre finds excellent British comedies to feature their stellar ensemble. Largely forgotten British playwright, Frederick Lonsdale’s 1923 champagne comedy, Aren’t We All is a fine, fluffy exercise in sharp theatre. In the Noel Coward style, Lonsdale has the pompous English aristocracy dealing with infidelity, forgiveness, trust, tolerance in a smartly plotted story. We meet the delightful Lord Grenham (in a deliciously playful turn by the steady Joe Van Slyke), the senior citizen who still lusts for the young woman and his stuffy son Willie, (the solid Shawn Douglas, who plays British gentleman better than most Brits) who lusts after Kitty (Elaine Robinson) and kisses her at a dance party in his estate just as his wife, Margot (Linda Gillum) returns from four months in Egypt. Margot feels betrayed witnessing Willie’s indiscretion. Gillum and Douglas offer honest subdued performances allowing Van Slyke to joyfully instigate the action.
Lonsdale’s characters point out that it is natural for a married man to lust for a woman, so Willie kissing Kitty isn’t so bad—but—when a married woman kisses a man it must be out of true love, not simply lust. The man is to be forgiven but the woman chastised. Lonsdale’s plot has some clever twists, funny scenes that are deftly played out by director Jessica Thebus terrific performers. This show rolls smoothly with a quiet ease and a comfortable polished tone. Once we tune in to the subtle humor, this play offers wit and stinging social commentaries. 
The English aristocratic morality of the 1920’s where tolerance and acceptance of gender roles in marriage is glibly stated worked to produce a delicious sparkling comedy. With a exquisite multi-colored, richly detailed set (design by John Dolton) and period perfect 20’s dress and hair styles including flappers and feathered hats (costume design by Janice Pytel), Aren’t We All is a good looking causal play that unfolds briskly.
Filled with cute subplots and the ever-present stuffy English Vicar (Peter Davis), this show contains those wacky archetypes that BBC and PBS shows always seem to feature. With Annabel Armour (Lady Frinton) and the suave Nick Sandy, in full Aussie accent, as Willocks, Aren’t We All is populated with Remy Bumppo’s finest. The result is a light weight society play that pokes fun at marriage and love and British sensibilities. It is a nice night at the theatre.
Highly Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Chicago Stage Talk Radio Show
This show is eligible for a C.S.T. Equity Theatre Award
November 30, 2005
Jeff Recommended
Aren’t We All
Review by Joe Stead
Remy Bumppo has polished its latest offering "Aren't We All?" to such a gleam that you might be fooled into believing something substantial lay beneath. Director Jessica Thebus has dusted off Frederick Lonsdale's 1923 museum piece and handed it to the kind of accomplished cast that has earned Remy Bumppo a reputation for class and taste. Would that the material they are working with had been worth the effort.
Last revived on Broadway twenty years ago as a vehicle for aging stars Rex Harrison and Claudette Colbert, "Aren't We All?" belongs to a rather archaic school of theatre known as "high comedy." Noel Coward was perhaps the best practitioner of this form, although lesser names such as Lonsdale, Philip Barry and Somerset Maugham enjoyed their own success with so-called comedy of manners. Manners themselves being something of a lost art, most of these efforts come across today quaint at best and more frequently tedious.
Romantic entanglements, courtships, marital infidelities and rivalries are all handled in the most elegant way possible. Decidedly on the talky side, Lonsdale peppered his script with some choice weapons in the battle of the sexes. The leading lady remarks of her foolish husband, "How angry the monkeys must have been when they found men had descended from them." An equal opportunity sexist, Lonsdale retorts "courage is the only thing that divides good women from bad." And if you have a hankering for the love lives of the rich, spoiled and self-absorbed, you may get a kick out of a play such as "Aren't We All?" Or you may wonder, as one critic quipped, "Aren't We All...Still Breathing?"
The mustiness of the material noted does not prevent Ms. Thebus and her cast from getting the highest mileage from their antique vehicle. Joe Van Slyke is to the dapper, carefree manner born as Lord Grenham, a clever gentleman who has focused his entire life on agriculture, women and the pursuit of remaining free and single. Certainly the happiest character onstage, Lord Grenham observes that all men and women crave is a little attention.
His son Willie (the always droll Shawn Douglass) is caught in a compromising moment when his wife Margot returns from an Egyptian singing tour to find him in the arms of another woman. A passing fancy, Willie protests, and although her feminine instincts compel her to jealousy, it is soon revealed that Margot enjoyed her own indiscretion while abroad. Fidelity takes a holiday, as our married couple must learn a lesson about understanding and forgiveness, while Lord Grenham dodges the marital snare of an ageless dowager, Lady Frinton.
The redoubtable Annabel Armour is a perfect pixie in the latter role, while Linda Gillum navigates a course of jealousy and extramarital titillation as Margot. Elaine Robinson's vibrant "other woman" is memorable enough to wish she had more than one scene, and distinguished Nick Sandys invests real dignity in Margot's Australian suitor, who becomes a ploy in Lord Grenham's restoration plot. The whole affair reeks of style and economy, including John Dalton's charmingly compact setting. I wish I could say that the play itself amounted to more than a mild trifle.
** out of *** stars
November 30, 2005
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