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The Grotesque History of Marie Antoinette
A Dark Comedy
By Noah Sheola
Directed by Michael Gillett
Produced by Player’s Ring West
At the Athenaeum Theatre
2936 N. Southport
Chicago, IL
Call 312-902-1500, tickets $20
Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 PM
Sundays at 3 PM
Through September 3, 2006
Grotesquely unfunny show too much to handle
Billed as a dark comedy, The Grotesque History of Marie Antoinette wasn’t funny. No one laughed. Not a good sign. This troubled production suffered from several maladies. First, the din from the air conditioner combined with some mumbling from several actors rendered much of the early dialogue incoherent.
Next, Christine Rosencrans has demonstrated her acting chops at the Actor’s Workshop Theatre in Loose Knit and Life’s Tremors and All My Sons. She is a talent. However, director Michael Gillert has her over playing Marie Antoinette with a shouting, shrill, squeaky voice that quickly becomes irritable. Add her flamboyant, mechanical gestures together with her screams and you have a character that aggravates and becomes tedious.
Third, Marie’s history involves much more than Noah Sheola’s empty story. We see Marie acting like a spoiled brat who needs a good slap. She is a selfish, nasty person who hates the French and regrets leaving her family’s Hapsburg estate in Vienna. Her story majors in minor events until the end.
Lastly, the pace of the show slows to a crawl with too many blackouts so the masked crew can reshuffle the black boxes. The uneven acting where mumbling and shouting replaced acting didn’t led to any laughs. This show tries too hard for laughs and never gets there with the poor timing and inept interpretations of French history. The cartoon characters should all wear masks to hide their faces. I’m not sure why anyone would think this convoluted mess is funny. The 105 minutes dragged on and played like 105 hours of torture. There is nothing worse than attempting satirical high comedy and falling flat. Skip this one.
Not Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: July 30, 2006
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