Noel Coward’s once-scandalous comedy of prigs amid the petit fours gets a deliciously tart revival at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre Company, crisply directed by former artistic director Tom Ross.
Marriage and class are just a few of the social institutions Coward puts under the microscope in this frothy 1920s farce that revels in the raciness of the Roaring Twenties.
High society doyenne Julia (Kina Kantor) is exhausted by pretending to adore Fred (Michael Barrett Austin) after five long years of matrimony. Julia’s equally posh BFF Jane (Emily Newsome) feels quite the same about her milksop of a hubby, Willy (Kevin Clarke). The fireworks have fizzled, and all that’s left to do is feign fidelity.
That’s when these two glittering divas (spot-on costumes by Maggie Morgan) sip champagne and plot improprieties that would make a TikTok sexpert blush. The delightful elocution of their dry-as-martini witticisms (dialect coach Nancy Carlin) adds to the joys of this period piece.
When their mutual ex, Maurice (Joel Roster), comes to town, the shtick hits the fan as the ladies who lunch confront their long-suppressed feelings for the Frenchman. Roster gyrates up a storm as Maurice wiggles his way back into the picture, indulging in double entendres astride the baby grand.
Coward also pokes fun at the power struggle between the upper and lower classes as Julia tries and fails to keep the help, the officious maid Saunders (a hilarious turn by Cindy Goldfield), in her place.
The actors tap into a comedy gold mine here. Kantor seems to be channeling Maggie Smith in a symphony of snubs and barbs over the long-lost lover. Goldfield has a field day as the jack-of-all-trades servant. And Austin employs his jowls to great comic effect as the insufferably aristocratic husband.
Coward makes the women the stars of the show, the men are merely props. This cheeky romp revolves around their lust and desires, their unchained sexuality, breezily touching on erotic encounters from outdoor sexcapades to ménage à trois.
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Make no mistake, the production is not perfect. The first act suffers from far too leisurely a pace, but that doesn’t diminish the fun of it all. This is pure light-hearted escapism that’s bound to boost the box office in hard times.
Certainly, in an era when women’s rights are once again a matter of controversy, there’s something quite liberating about watching women from a hundred years ago putting their own needs first. The husbands may harrumph but Coward lets the wives have the last laugh and it’s a hearty one.
“Fallen Angels”
Written by Noël Coward, directed by Tom Ross
Through: Nov. 17
Where: Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison St. Berkeley
Details: $38-$68; auroratheatre.org/fallen-angels
