By Kathy Curtiss
The Rover, playing at UVU in Orem, Utah is a rollicking love-match in Restoration period style. The Rover is a delightful comedy made relevant by both characters and costuming that relates this period piece to our time. The actors prove worthy of the complex language, wit, and style, the design elements are simple but beautifully support the action, and the direction takes full advantage of the comic bits, dashing fights, and love intrigues. It is certainly worth the modest ticket price, and a trip to the Ragan Theatre on the UVU campus in the Sorensen Center. The piece is produced by Utah Valley University’s adventurous and able theatre clubs: USITT Student Chapter and Theatre Arts Guild in partnership with UVU Theatrical Arts Department.
The Rover is an audacious choice for the student-produced work, as it does take a moment to settle into the language of the period. But the themes are strongly and clearly played: Is love a game? Will we ever find out hearts? Will we find our match? Do we know ourselves well enough to know our match when we are face to face with them? The play structures its love intrigue around Don Pedro finding a match for his sister, (he wants to match her with wealth, but also with a friend of his own choosing) while he also seeks a match for himself. The characters, all of marriageable age, are shifted into individual encounters as they do the “seeking” for themselves often in defiance of what others want for them, where we can see what qualities make a good match indeed. The plot is comedically complicated as the characters spend half the play disguised with masks. This is a great plot device that forwards the theme about the confusion of illusion and reality in love. These questions are relevant, especially on a college campus, and great fun. Three cheers for the boldness of the student clubs in taking on this endeavor.
Directors McKell Petersen and Kiersten Zundel have grasped the fun of the period in developing clarity overall in the language, with help from UVU professor Jeremy Sortore,and having a lot of fun with the comedic traditions of the period: comedia del arte “lazzi” bits where a bit of action are developed through the show. To cite just one instance: the characters bow to each other to show signs of respect and also social standing, and this tickles the funny bone as the play progresses, and the comedic effect of the bows becomes a cacophony of well-timed ridiculousness. The setting is simple, but shows an understanding, with the director’s use of silhouettes against gorgeous colors of the scrim, shows again, in its well-placed usage, the grasp of themes. Their work with the costume, light, and set designers is unified. Petersen is responsible for the beautiful orchestral sound design.
Design elements enhance and beautify and leave us always in the mood for love. Set Designer Dorsey Williams is to be commended. Carefully chosen set pieces create silhouettes, and touch the imagination in the style of the piece. No item of the set, including the mobile doorway, escapes the decoration of flowers and foliage, inspiring us to connect with the beauty of Spring. Lighting Designer Olivia Scott has used simple technique with the scrim color to enhance mood and even keep track of plot lines with gorgeous and well-chosen color. The mood established not only in the silhouettes, but also in the intrigue of the night sequences, is very effective. Costume Designer Tanner Hardy has assisted the complex plotline with his color and style theme for each character. Even when in disguise, a scarf on Bellville helps us know who we are dealing with. Hardy also follows the storyline through creative use of modern touches with the skirt of the women. As “hoop” skirts were a tradition, they appear in the play without the elaborate skirt on top of them. The bare hoops show us the layers of underdressing that looks quite like how women may dress in fanciful legging today and adds both humor and relevance and they change back and forth to regular skirts and hoop cages. Fascinating costume choice and fun. Props design by Luke Logan is spot on and participates in the fun, such as the horn that sits on the Rover’s hip, that from time to time unexpectedly honks.
Certainly, a favorite aspect of the production is the fight direction. As mentioned there are daring period sword fights throughout. They were far better executed both in terms of target accuracy and clear sense of how these characters would fight than I expected. I glanced at the program and found it was the work of Fight Director Kailey Azure Green. Green’s fights are brilliant, especially in terms of clarity and the advancement of story between characters. They also list her as “Intimacy choreographer,” carrying forth the banner of respect for personal space on stage that is a trending issue of social concern in our time.
The actors are a delight. The comic duo of Florinda and Helena, played by Emma Rains and Aspen Thompson are spot on witty, as they are so clear with language and comedic intention. Thompson is a standout in terms of clarity, as her character has a complex path through the play, dropping into various modes of disguise and ending up with her prize. Thompson has one of the clearest grasps of language in the show, emphasized also by her grasp of period grace and style. Alice Ellsworth shows remarkable subtlety, intelligence, and style in her playing of Angelica. She is laugh out loud funny, but the laughter is so fraught with irony we also get the deeper themes. Lance Bagley as Don Pedro is worthy of his lead with a strong voice and presence. Carter Andersen, a wonderfully vulnerable and sympathetic character, as Bellville leads the comedy troupe of cunning men through their adventures: Zach Anderson and Wyatt Garrett, who are great comedic fun throughout. Standout also is the portrayal of the Rover, Willmore, by Seven Harrison. His flourish of characterization is well-informed in the period, and he is agile, witty, clear with language and often vulnerable as called for, so we see when the games are over, when we take the serious questions of love to heart. The seeming minor characters of the servants Abby Haws and Shelby Markham do a great job adding to the clarity and comedic effect. Supporting love interests of Colie Lemon and Kayla Bergstrom add to the elegance of the night with their beauty and style, making us all want to find our match. Don Antonio is also well played by Eden Black.
Mention should be made of the club’s organization in citing the producers. The play is made possible by the hard work of Colin Skip Wilson, Josh Needles, Kat Hawley, and Tristin Smith. The Production Stage Manager KD Olsen and ASM Hannah Mohlman get huge kudos for running a clean show with excellently timed cues, in a complex maze of characters in and out. Dramaturg Mira Kocherhans has done excellent research into the period, to the values of the time period, as they sport with the relevance of those values in our time. The play is a fun and creative evening. It represents the kind of work in classics and period that is so vital to the development of the actors, directors and designers in a college program.
Again, three cheers for this great student work! It’s a short run for a fun show, so get your tickets now to UVU’s The Rover.
USITT Student Chapter, Theatre Arts Guild and UVU Theatrical Arts Department present The Rover by Aphra Behn.
The Utah Valley Universtiry, Ragan Theatre in the Sorensen Center, 800 W University Parkway, Orem, Ut 84097j, ust off the guest parking lot at UVU.
October 24-26, 2019, 7:30 PM
Tickets: Student ticket prices are $3, $4 for faculty, and general admission.
UVU USITT Facebook Page
The Rover Facebook Event
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