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Completely Enchanting
By John McKinley
Seeking a little sunshine to brighten your grey February? Rose Arnott and Lotty Wilton found theirs in a newspaper advertisement. You can find yours in Enchanted April, the uplifting season-opening comedy from the Chemainus Theatre Festival. Sweet, romantic and unblinkingly optimistic, Enchanted April celebrates the enduring power of positive thinking and love's potential for renewal. And it manages to do so in such an easy, natural fashion, it is bound to enchant even the most hard-boiled and cynical viewer. April is the story of Lotty (Anita Wittenberg), and Rose (Erin Ormond), a pair of unhappy 1920's-era housewives, each watching the light in their lives and their marriages from dim. Terrified of what the future may bring, they become ensnared by a newspaper ad promising a month of wisteria and sunshine at a coastal Italian castle. Pooling resources with world-weary young noblewoman Lady Caroline Bramble (Samantha Madely) and severe dowager, Mrs. Graves (Donna Carroll White_, they make a bold leap from the greys of England to the copper-drenched Italian seashore and discover what it is their lives have been missing. Matthew Barber's script, based on a book by Elizabeth von Arnim, is all about character and this group of actors is perfectly in tune with both their characters and with each other. CT veteran Wittenberg is the play's anchor, its heart, and a good deal of its laughter as the ultimately irrepressible Lotty. Ormond is its soul with her subtle yet arresting portrayal of the more reserved Rose. Kevin Williamson and Dirk van Stralen bring just the right touch of humanity to our pair's less-than-perfect husbands. In other hands these characters would have been easy to dismiss or dislike; in these hands, flawed as the men are, one can still see what our heroes see in them. And both have moments that are downright funny. Lady Caroline is all cool shell on the surface, but Madely open the shutters with just the right touch. The way White's unforgiving matron transforms is utterly believable. Mark DuMez is perfectly cast as the charming and sympathetic landlord. And Emma Claire Miller is very funny- in Italian, no less- rounding out the cast as the castle's headstrong maid. We like and empathize with these people. Sure, everything wraps up in a nice little package; this was a romantic comedy. But nothing that happens seems heavy-handed or forced. This play is feel-good, not saccharine. If your life is good, Enchanted April will reinforce that, and send you out of the theatre with a smile on your face. If your life is in winter, Enchanted April can show you the blooms of spring. It's a chick flick for sure, but it's one you can take your man to. And you should.
Enchanted April Review
Caught under the dull gray skies of their dull gray lives, the women of Enchanted April are the original desperate housewives. But unlike the caustic television series, giddy happiness is unapologetically assured in the Chemainus Theatre's lighthearted first offering of the new season. Set in rainy post-WWI London, Lotty Wilton (Anita Wittenberg) is sick of the monotonous domestic life with her desultory husband Mellersh (Dirk van Stralen). Lotty sees a vacation in Italy as her only hope at reclaiming life, and convinces the refined Rose Arnott (Erin Ormond) to help. They find beautiful but cold socialite Lady Caroline Bramble and hard-boiled matriarch Mrs. Graves to share the cost of a seaside Italian castle (Samantha Madely and Donna White). Lotty and Rose, in one of the sharpest scenes in the play, simultaneously muster the strength to tell off their wayward husbands, declaring their scandalous intent to travel unescorted to Italy. The women-only escape soon becomes a mixed affair, as the husbands and the castle owner, young sculptor Antony Wilding (Mark Dumez) all arrive for very different reasons. Suffice it to say, the sunny seaside villa reinvigorates the calcified marriages and dour lives of Lotty and Rose. Lady Caroline and Mrs. Graves ease their apathetic or demanding habits, and find reasons for happiness. Enchanted April is a simple and linear story, an engine to allow the contrasting characters to trade witty banter. Matthew Barber's script tries to give depth to the characters somewhat ham-fistedly, resolving painful inner turmoil too glibly or with a whitewash. But as always, Chemainus finds enormous talent for its stage. Wittenberg is superlative as the flighty Lotty, deftly drawing out an authentic inner strength when confronting her husband. Her irrepressible schoolgirl glee running flowered and barefoot at the castle is inspired, and keeps focus on what the play is about. "You would make Pollyanna ill," says Rose to Lotty after one of her many apoplectic fits of joy. Ormond, as Rose, plays the refined traditional lady perfectly, with just the right amount of shock and dismay at Lotty's scheming. Van Stralen, as Lotty's husband Mellersh is a brilliant deadpan comic reminiscent of Basil Fawlty, and armed with only a towel and a smile, pulls off the funniest scene in the show. With Enchanted April, the theatre is launching its new and improved lighting and sound system, among other upgrades. Unfortunately the projected backdrop imagery to portray storm and rain was too manic and distracting. The theatre, though, does a good job devising contrasting sets of colourless London to bright and cheery Italy, as do the stunning costumes. Predictable but engaging, Enchanted April is meant to be a feel-good play, and it succeeds, letting us gladly believe that lives of "quiet desperation" and soured love can begin anew.
'April' Enchanting
With a title like 'Enchanted April' and a label like 'romantic comedy' you can bet that at the end of the Chemainus Theatre Festival's current offering everybody lives happily ever after. But it turns out [author] Elizabeth von Arnim has a little more bite and substance than that. According to the playbill, von Arnim, an Australian, married to a German Count who frowned upon her occupation. She later referred to him as the 'Man of Wrath'. Von Arnim wrote 'Enchanted April' at age 56, so you can put two and two together and discern that in the beginning, when Lotty Wilton and Rose Arnott slowly admit to each other that they're tired of the English rain and tired of their husbands, there's a certain unfluffy ring of truth to the play's subsequent unfoldings. The characters engaging- they suck you right in, the ensemble is topnotch, the script is polished, and the production values are as inspired, meticulous and seamless as we have come to expect from the direction of CTF artistic director Jeremy Tow. Anita Wittenberg plays Lotty Wilton completely over the top (just a little shy of Jerry Lewis as the Nutty Professor) but the script demands the character be played that way. You'd think Erin Ormond was meant to be the beautiful but downtrodden and depressed Rose Arnott, Lotty's partner in crime, she plays the character convincingly. Samantha Madely is tasty eye candy as the dark, wealthy socialite Lady Caroline bramble, doing justice to some stunning period costumes (kudos to costume designer Kendra Cooper), and Donna Carroll White nails the taciturn Mrs. Graves perfectly. The four ladies rent a castle in Italy promising sunshine and wisteria. There events unfold with seasoned supporting performances from Emma Claire Miller as Costanza the housekeeper, Mark DuMez as castle owner Antony Wilding, Dirk van Stralen as Mellersh Wilton, and Kevin Williamson as Frederick Arnott. The beginnings of the $950,000 in upgrades to the theatre are in evidence with slides, lighting and sound, which combine to be convincing as both rain-sodden England and sunny Italy. This is a wonderfully enjoyable evening of superb professional theatre, well deserving of the packed house and standing ovation at Friday's performance. Enchanted April is entertainment suitable for all ages. It runs until April 1, with a scrumptious buffet dinner available before each performance in the Playbill Dining Room.
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