STAGE REVIEW : A Young Company Aims High

A new company known as A Noise Within is making a good deal of noise with out these days.

After launching itself last November in a high-ceilinged hall on the third floor of the Glendale Masonic Temple with nothing less daunting than “Hamlet,” it has followed with a two-play repertory: William Congreve’s “The Way of the World” and Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.”

However one might quibble with the interpretations given to those pieces here, there’s no quibbling over something else: This is a well-pedigreed company of actors who know how to deliver the classics. They mostly hail from the country’s better-known classical hatcheries such as San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre, Oregon’s Shakespearean Festival at Ashland and such solid other dabblers in the classics as the American Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory and the Mark Taper Forum.

“Way” and “Merchant” have been paired under the alluring title of “Spring Season of Romance” and play fast and loose with that theme. In the case of Congreve’s bitingly cynical “Way of the World,” the romance is stark, performed in stylish contemporary black and white, smartly designed by costumer Mary Deaver.

In the case of “Merchant,” set in 1830, director Art Manke sacrifices the undercurrents of prejudice and pain that give the play breadth on the altar of romance too easily gained. But more on this later.

That the company has dared to embrace the complexities of rotating repertory (they do the plays on alternating nights) is apparently helped by two things: its small theater status (where artists are paid a pittance) and the simplicity of Jodi Ginnever’s set design that focuses on clever arrangements of tables and chairs, under David M. Darwin’s unobtrusive lighting.

This works most effectively in “Way of the World” where director Sabin Epstein centers his attention on costume, character and the nature of deceit. Epstein, a resident director at the American Conservatory Theatre (where he recently staged that theater’s 25th anniversary revival of “Cyrano de Bergerac”), weaves his players in a swirl of movement in and out of arrangements and rearrangements of Louis XV chairs.

The contrast of the period furniture, the tailored elegance of the modern Italianate haute couture and the dripping sense of corruption suit the play perfectly. Where a clash occurs is with the language that doesn’t assimilate well with the modern dress. It has not been changed from its Restoration idiom, so that its verbal mannerisms and such expressions as “pshaw” stick out like sore thumbs.

That is the only negative to report in an otherwise eloquent portrayal of sexual innuendo and rank gossip, with a superannuated Lady Wishfort (Jenna Cole) rotting at its core. Cole plays her with brio , as a plumping cartoon of her younger self, wearing too much makeup and clinging to girlishness even as she concedes “I look like an old peeled wall.”

The handsome, intelligent and eligible Mirabell (Matt McKenzie, who has the first two attributes in abundance) is the focus of the women’s attentions. These include the vengefully dotty Wishfort, the flirtatious Madame Millamant (Francia DiMase), who’s in love with him, and the brittle and dangerous Madame Marwood (Brigitt Markusfeld), who would happily leave her lover Fainall (David Drummond) for Mirabell’s embrace.

The landscape is otherwise dotted with servants, one interloper (the country gentleman Sir Willfull Witwoud, played with vigor and bluntness by Robert Sicular in brown clothes that denote his outsider status) and overblown fops like Anthony Witwoud (Joel Swetow) and his sidekick Petulant (Art Manke). Manke makes quite an impression in shades, white hat and coat, black boutonniere and a quirky laugh like a honking goose.

Emotional connections abound with the tainted social climate of “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.” But Congreve, a master of the aphoristic line, has a lot more wit and practices his own dictum that “a wit should no more be sincere than a woman constant”--well and duly noted in Epstein’s production.

On the other hand, Manke, a founding artistic co-director of the company (with Geoff Elliott who played the title role in “Hamlet”), has staged the “Merchant of Venice” with too little attention paid to blocking and none to subtext. This unfunny “comedy” is treated with a casual acceptance that ignores its complexity. The only excuse might be that cultural awareness was not an issue in the 1830s, but it hollows out the production.

The acting is again consistently able, although Manke’s muddled staging and lack of subtlety clutters the stage with too many bodies and props. His Portia--a high-pitched, diminutive Ann Marie Lee--has none of the forcefulness or verbal eloquence that lends credibility to the role. Similarly, Gail Shapiro as Jessica seemingly hasn’t a care for the traduced father she left behind or a second thought about marrying into a social group set to undo him.

Swetow is a believable but one-note Shylock and Wayne Alexander and David Drummond shamelessly overdo the Princes of Morocco and Arragon, respectively. Perhaps Manke should stick to the acting he does so well and leave the directing to others.

A word of caution: The Masonic hall is a cold, echo-y environment that has suited the properties chosen by the company so far, but may not suit others. A Noise Within, however, quibbles and all, is one of the freshest classical companies to come down the pike. One devoutly hopes its noise grows louder.

* “The Way of the World” and “The Merchant of Venice,” Glendale Masonic Temple, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale. “Way”: Thursday, Saturday, Monday, April 17, 23, 8 p.m.; April 19 and 25, 7 p.m. Ends April 25. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes. “Merchant”: Friday, April 16, 18, 20, 24, 8 p.m.; Sundayand April 26, 7 p.m. Ends April 26. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes. $12; (818) 753-7750.