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May 10--In the unlikely event that Nick Dear's "Power" ever makes it to television, they'll probably retitle it, with considerable justification, "Louis XIV: Behind the Wigs."
Dear's smart, sexy, droll and thoroughly enjoyable comedy -- which the ever-savvy Remy Bumppo Theatre Company is providing with a sterling American premiere -- is a very respectable entry in that hip subgenre of historical plays that actually are contemporary plays, only disguised with costumes.
Like Christopher Hampton's "Les Liasons Dangereuses" and Steven Jeffreys' "The Libertine" (both of which this play resembles), "Power" uses historical remove as an excuse to have fun with blooming teenage virgins, interfering mothers, elderly lotharios, political corruption, sexual intrigue and high melodrama. And despite purporting to be about the machinations during the reign of the Sun King, "Power" gets off metaphorical shots at every modern thing from the British government's propensity for sleazy sex scandals to the agonies of the current royals.
It's not that his characters here talk about that stuff directly. It's just that Dear uses subtle anachronism as the source of his rollicking gags. You can get away with all kinds of stuff in translation. And it's not like Louis had microphones hidden in the hedges at Versailles as he fought off his overbearing mother, his foppish brother and an adviser named Fouquet, who filled and emptied the royal coffers with a certain elan. But despite the assertion of this play, it's pretty certain that no one around Louis was uttering the phrase "creative accounting."
Toward the end, Dear does pop in a kind of moral. This play's contribution to the literature of the Sun King is the unoriginal thesis that clever young Louis was drowning all of his enemies in a sea of protocol, etiquette and delightful parties. In other words, the famous creative glories of his reign were an expedient smoke screen holding off any "republican barbarians" (to use a phrase this show dispenses with particular relish). That's probably enough for this slightly overlong play to fight off any charge of triviality. But this is still one of those relaxed if less-than-radical evenings in company with a clever storyteller and a rapier wit, who needs and cares to do little more than flex a flashy pen.
Thankfully, John Malkovich was unavailable for the role of Fouquet and Remy Bumppo cast the delicious David Darlow instead. Darlow has sport here, wrapping his flexible tongue around eloquently empty compliments and employing so much passive aggression that he ends up attacking himself. Smartly, Darlow realizes (as does Annabel Armour, who plays the Queen Mom) that the comedy is heightened if the performances are not only truthful but come with a modicum of existential desperation. Gobs thereof are on display.
Aside from some clunky furniture shifting, James Bohnen's simply staged production has few palpable flaws. The show is cleverly paced and expertly cast -- even Aaron Christensen as the straight-laced accountant offers a performance of considerable complexity -- and the action cruises along with the bopping confidence of a luxurious tourmobile at Versailles.
cjones5@tribune.com
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"Power"
When: Through June 4
Where: Victory Gardens Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.
Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Tickets: $33-$38.50 at 773-871-3000
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