Actors Daniel Briere and Stephanie Izsak kiss in The Game of Love and Chance.
Back-and-forth identity swaps, broad musical numbers, grotesque masks, and rat-a-tat satirical dialogue are all part of Odyssey Theatre’s production of Marivaux’s The Game of Love and Chance – which is set to debut in Strathcona Park next week.
“The funny thing is, it’s not done very often. It’s a bit of an obscure play,” says first-time Odyssey director Andy Massingham. “And then, in the last year, it’s been produced three times. So, it’s gone through a very strange mini-revival of sorts.”
The Parisian-set romantic comedy finds chic young lovers Silvia and Dorante, who have never met, trading places with their servants to find out a little more about their suitors undercover, while the help take on the identities of their masters.
“It’s a perfectly constructed comedy. It’s like Shakespeare,” says Massingham. “It’s absolutely on-the-money structurally as a comedy.”
For Odyssey’s Strathcona Park production, Massingham adapted Marivaux’s play for an outdoor venue. “We have the open sky, we’ve got sirens, we’ve got groundhogs under the stage,” he says. “But we also have the benefit of being able to reach an audience in a way that indoor theatre doesn’t allow. They can be bold, they can be presentational, they can also be intimate with it.”
Marivaux’s original version is set in 1730, but Massingham changed the time period to the 1890s.
The switch of time period allowed him to mix some iconic music into a story of the dysfunctional love lives of French aristocrats. At the curtain call, the entire cast performs the Can-Can.
The more contemporary twist also allowed Massingham to strengthen Marivaux’s already liberated Silvia. “I want to really sharpen her up to like a modern woman,” he says. “So that there also will be contemporary relevance because people will see themselves in all these characters as well.”
One scene finds Silvia and her loyal but animated servant Lisette offering a satirical take on arranged marriage – something that Massingham says was rebellious of the freethinking Marivaux. In another scene, Dorante gives his peppy chauffeur Arlequino a good talk about taking over the role of his high-society employer – but don’t think the oddball servant will master the part.
Odyssey’s The Game of Love and Chance will run from July 26 to Aug. 26 in Strathcona Park. Performances are from Tuesday through Sunday at 8 p.m. Matinees, held on Saturday and Sunday, are pay-what-you-can.