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Regional Reviews: St. Louis The Cottage Also see Richard's review of Raisin
Most of the laughs come from sneaking around, and then getting caught, and then trying to explain it all–before the next romantic complication comes racing out of this particular clown car. Wild new mistakes go spinning off in new directions under the relentlessly clever direction of Risa Brainin. It's a sometimes low-down American lampoon of the British style of high comedy, starring the tireless, delirious Andrea San Miguel as Sylvia. She floats and slips and slides through a wacky version of women's liberation in the Roaring Twenties, grabbing up most of the best lines in the play along the way. The clever and wry Jordan Coughtry is perfect as Beau, her once-a-year fling (and brother-in-law), smiling as if tickled by the bubbles in a glass of champagne. The two hour and fifteen minute show debuted at the Astoria Performing Arts Center in New York in 2013, and was produced around the country before arriving on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre in the summer of 2023. And it's true what they say about this new production: Renee Garcia, the costume designer, just about steals the show. Though you also have to admire the lovely set by Robert Mark Morgan. And behind that is playwright Rustin's own literary construction, which stylizes the search for female independence: gay and gleeful, even as trust among husbands and wives goes up in flames. Brief moments of reason and good breeding tamp down all the rages of jealousy. And the concept of ever meeting one's own true soulmate in any direct, straightforward manner begins to seem like a maddening impossibility. The romantic dialogs of theatre are, once again, far from platonic. But it's strangely enlightening all the same–to the point where sex farce begins to seem reasonable. If not inevitable. Jihan Haddad is comically vehement and dangerously veiled as the "other woman"/"wronged woman," Beau's wife Marjorie. Her brother-in-law, the light and dry Clarke, is played by Jack Dryden. He edges right up to being a git, a toff, a regal idiot, but somehow remains likable and natural all the same. Between the boyish Clarke and the elegant Mr. Coughtry's Beau, The Cottage begins to resemble The Importance of Being Earnest, where one man is Algernon and the other is Jack. It's all madly embroidered by the time we get to intermission, with ditzy Dierdre (Isa Venere) and love-struck, murderous Richard (Andrés Enriquez) opening the door to exponentially greater complications. And at the interval, there are three specialty cocktails out in the lobby. But you won't need a single one to feel pleasantly intoxicated by the whole thing. The Cottage runs through September 28, 2025, at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, 130 Edgar Rd., St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.repstl.org. Cast: Production Staff: Additional Production Staff: * Denotes Member, Actors' Equity Association ** Denotes Member, USA-829, United Scenic Artists |
