A RIOTOUS ROMP
Audiences are often drawn to a theatre by curiosity when an unknown play opens, particularly when the description is “The sacred, the profane, and side-splitting hilarity unite mother and daughter.” What on earth does that mean?
Gianna Digregorio
Inspired by Guy de Maupassant’s 1880 short story “Boule de Suif” (which translates into “ball of fat” or “dumpling”), D. Murphy wrote his wildly entertaining comedy Buttercup, and chose the Marin Shakespeare Company theatre in San Rafael as the perfectly-sized location for his imaginative fantasy.
Lizzie Calogero and Gianna Digregorio
The location is France, the time 1870; the six-month Franco-Prussian war has just ended. Carriage driver Albert (Titus VanHook) and Buttercup (Gianna DiGregorio Rivera), a young woman of lower class and dubious reputation, hand over their infant to convent nuns for safekeeping during the turbulent times. It becomes apparent the nuns have their own plans for the baby as Buttercup is scolded and dragged away.
The cast of Buttercup
Nearby, upper-crust Frenchmen toss their officers’ uniforms and desperately seek passage to flee France for safety in England. Two couples mask their identities and bribe a Prussian general for safe passage through Normandy. Albert supplies a carriage. They sniff disapprovingly when Albert brings Buttercup and a nun into their coach. Condescension, clash and comedy continue non-stop as the coach runs into road blocks, hungry wolves, and pig bogs.
Titus VanHook and Gianna Digregorio
Intercontinental Drift‘s production, directed by Nancy Carlin, moves rapidly and seamlessly with split-second timing. The passengers in the imaginary carriage bounce and jostle in the seats so convincingly one might think there was an earthquake tremor in the house, thanks to superb choreography by Bridgette Loriaux. Performers Richard Pallaziol, Brian Lohman, Sarah Mitchell, and Rebecca Pingree provoke plenty of laughter with their snobbish comments and outrageous physical antics.
Sarah Mitchell and Rebegga Pingree
Actors periodically turn the coach benches in this ¾ round theater, enabling all 165 seats to have a fine view. Carlin noted “It took a lot of work. There are so very many quick scenes and costume changes (by Maggie Whitaker) A wagon wheel painted on the floor lets the actors move the benches accurately for each change.”
Brennan Pickman Thoon, Titus VanHook, and Gianna Digregorio Rivera
The couples discover that Buttercup is obsessed with Joan of Arc and is on a quest to find her baby hidden by the nuns three years past. Sister Walter (Lizzie Calogero) chides Buttercup for praying to Joan of Arc, not yet canonized as a saint. The two go at it with enormous energy, as zany zealots often do.
Lizzie Calogero (center) and the cast
When the couples must find an alternate way to get to France, a Senagalese immigrant innkeeper (Norman Gee) suggests seducing a Prussian officer (Brennan Pickman-Thoon) to gain proper papers. Nothing turns out the way the group expected, lending further hilarity to this entertaining new show, a one-act running 75 minutes.
Playwright Murphy adds “This play is a satire with parallels with today’s political populism and entitlement. We can laugh and hopefully we can learn.”
Buttercup
Intercontinental Drift
Marin Shakespeare, 514 4th St. in San Rafael
Thurs-Sat at 7:30; Sat and Sun at 2
ends on April 13, 2025
for tickets ($22.24-$37.99), visit Purple Pass
