COWARD’S ANGELS ARE A LAUGH RIOT
Almost one hundred years after its somewhat scandalous debut, Noël Coward’s Fallen Angels is enjoying a revival at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre, where it runs through November 17.
Michael Barrett Austin & Kina Kantor
The British playwright is enjoying a revival of his own in the Bay Area, with a lovely production of Private Lives having closed October 6 after a successful run at American Conservatory Theater in downtown San Francisco. To extend the metaphor somewhat awkwardly, Aurora Theatre Company is enjoying its own revival, having survived a reputed financial crisis this year. Despite the region’s cultural and fiscal wealth, similar circumstances have recently shuttered SF’s Cutting Ball Theatre and the East Bay’s California Shakespeare.
Emily Newsome & Kina Kantor
Helmed by veteran director Tom Ross, Fallen Angels is a simple comedy about a couple of upper-middle-class women, Julia Sterroll and Jane Banbury (Kina Kantor and Emily Newsome, respectively) who both had affairs with a seductive Frenchman named Maurice Declos (Joel Roster), about whom we learn much as the story unfolds, but whom we do not meet until late in the last act.
Michael Barrett Austin
Sex outside marriage was scandalous enough in the early 20th century, but far more shocking is that Julia and Jane both wish to revisit their liaisons with Maurice. Their husbands Fred and Will (Michael Barrett Austin and Kevin Clarke, respectively) are clueless golfing buddies whose day on the links keeps them away from the Sterroll flat throughout most of the play.
Emily Newsome
Kina Kantor & Kevin Clarke
Rounding out the all-Equity cast is Cindy Goldfield as Julia’s recently-hired housemaid Saunders. Blessed with a superb sense of comic timing, Goldfield is in some ways the star of this tightly produced show. Her deadpan commentary and physical comedy are wonderful — praise that applies equally to Kantor and Newsome, who propel their characters deep into hilariously drunken nonsense as their day without husbands progresses. What fun it is watching them get hammered and increasingly confessional as they do.
Cindy Goldfield
Maurice finally puts in an over-the-top appearance late in the game, to the dismay of Fred and Will and the embarrassment of their wives. He confesses that for the coming year, he’s taken the flat above the Sterrolls, with the implication of more funny business to come. Throughout it all, Saunders maintains her equipoise as the audience’s point-of-view character and sideline commentator.
Emily Newsome & Kina Kantor
Kudos to dialect coach Nancy Carlin for adding authenticity to Coward’s clever dialog, and to director Ross for just-right pacing. Set designer Mikiko Uesugi has done a marvelous job of creating an upscale London flat on the Aurora’s compact stage, and Maggie Morgan’s costumes are delightful, from the goofy golf outfits of two husbands to Jane’s gorgeous evening gown.
Joel Roster & Kevin Clarke
The marital-infidelity theme of Fallen Angels still resonates today. Its comedic impact isn’t as shocking as it was a century ago, but it’s still a joy.
photos by Kevin Berne
Fallen Angels
Aurora Theatre
2081 Addison St. in Berkeley
ends on November 17, 2024 (streaming performances November 12-17)
for tickets ($20-$68), call 510.843.4822 or visit Aurora Theatre
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Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. Contact: [email protected]
