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This is an Archival Site
There is now a new Rogovoy Report home
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Weekend Preview May 19-24
Bob Dylan tributes, Deborah Voigt, Tom Paxton, Bill Kirchen, John Kirk and Trish Miller
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FILM REVIEW: In a Better World and Of Gods and Men
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.17.11
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5.12.11
Deborah Voigt Headlines Mahaiwe Gala
Opera star to sing arias, show tunes on Saturday, May 21
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Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
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5.11.11
Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend
6.4.09
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A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak
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[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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[Theater NOT Review] Enchanted April at Shakespeare & Company
6.2.06
ENCHANTED APRIL
by Matthew Barber
from the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim
now through Sept. 2, 2006
Founders' Theatre
Shakespeare & Company
Report by Seth Rogovoy, editor-in-chief, Berkshire Living
First things first -- what I saw last night was NOT part of the official run of the play ENCHANTED APRIL -- I saw a preview. And for that matter, I didn't see the entire show -- only the first half.
All that being said, based on what I DID see, I can say the following:
ENCHANTED APRIL looks likely to be one of the highlights of the summer theater season in the Berkshires. Adapted from a novel written in 1922, the comic drama is something of a proto-feminist parlor study that finds a group of women in various stages of discovering themselves as individuals out from under the heavy wings of their male husbands or companions.
They're not all sure what to make of their newfound sense of self, or what to do with it, but the play captures them on the brink of what we know will become a revolutionary upending of the relationship between the sexes.
This could be a recipe for a tedious, strident, politically correct diatribe, but instead it is the premise underlying a funny, tender look at male-female relationships (which, if they've changed in many superficial or real ways, are still remarkably familiar in many others) and, more importantly, female friendship.
Under the direction of Normi Noel, the cast, as always at Shakespeare & Company, is utterly professional and superbly acted. Each character is well fleshed out and none come across as cliches or stereotypes, which could have been a very easy fallback in such a pointed period piece.
The plot itself finds these unlikely group of London women who have only just met joining forces and traveling to Italy for what we now would term a bachelorette weekend (or something perhaps more risque). Since I didn't see the second half, when they are in Italy, I can't comment on what happens. But if the getting there is half the fun, then I at least had that.
I'm much looking forward to returning to the Founders' Theatre in Lenox, Mass., to discover what happens at the end of this witty, fun, tender drama.
--Seth Rogovoy, editor-in-chief, Berkshire Living
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