When it sticks to doing what it is that distinguishes the group from every other theater company in town — that is, performing in French — Theatre du Reve’s “Lovers & Lunatics,” a collection of short farces by Georges Feydeau, is often delightful. It’s the scenes in English that slow the show down.
Directed by William Hatten, the first act presents two of Feydeau’s original French pieces “Fiances en herbe” and “Par la fenetre,” along with English adaptations of the same stories (co-written by Hatten and Ama Bollinger), “Puppy Love” and “By the Window.” The second act features Feydeau’s “Gibier de potence” (or “Game of Chance”), in which some of the characters speak French and some speak English with understandably confusing results.
Once they get warmed up in “Puppy Love,” youngsters Thomas Shoup and Nadia Crawlle are cute as a smitten pair of Dunwoody prep school kids who’d rather be reading “The Hunger Games” or “The Care Bears” than Aesop’s “The Tortoise and the Hare.” There isn’t a lot of spark between their characters but, otherwise, they serve Hatten’s purpose by basically pre-translating everything that happens next in “Fiances en herbe.”
Here, set when and where the scene was written (in 19th-century France), bilingual child actors Victor Magaud and Flora McGirt look adorable in their frilly period costumes (designed by Katy Munroe). Beyond just that, though, they deliver their French dialogue much more naturally and expressively than their English-speaking counterparts. You don’t need to translate every word they’re saying to be engaged by them.
In a small but nice touch, during the scene changes Hatten transposes different set pieces: a sofa or window from one side of the stage in the English scenes is swapped to the other side in the French scenes.
The rest of “Lovers & Lunatics” isn’t quite so balanced. Yes, “By the Window” is in English and “Par la fenetre” recounts the same story in French. But the plain truth is that what might play amusingly in 1880s Paris setting doesn’t necessarily stand the test of time or work as well in 2013 Atlanta, even by farcical standards.
The premise involves the amorous misadventures of a neighboring man and woman, both of whom have jealous spouses. Bryan Brendle and Cara Mantella feel forced and phony in the updated anglicized version, which develops with all the wit and sophistication of a vignette from TV’s old “Love, American-Style.” And then — voila! — in the traditional French version, Christof Veillon and Eliana Marianes play it to a hilarious hilt, with charm and finesse to spare.
Local favorite and longtime Theatre du Reve collaborator Chris Kayser headlines the physical romp “Gibier de potence,” portraying (in fluent French) a mysterious stranger who runs afoul of a scheming diva (Ariel Fristoe). Without the benefit of two separate renditions, this segment is burdened most by the show’s language barrier. Even with a synopsis in the program, the plot is hard enough to follow as it is.
As surely as those English episodes lose something in translation, so does this one falter without it.
THEATER REVIEW
“Lovers & Lunatics”
Grade: B-
Through Feb. 17. 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 3 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. $15-$25. 7 Stages Back Stage Theatre, 1105 Euclid Ave. (in Little Five Points), Atlanta. 404-875-3829. theatredureve.com.
Bottom line: Loses even more in translation than without it.
