The Butler Does It--Well

WHAT THE BUTLER SAW marks the resurrection of the Lowell House Drama Society after a hiatus of more than three years; and if this production is indicative of its future. Harvard can look forward to many enjoyable seasons.

The play is a broad farce, attacking not only the antiquated sexual mores of our time, but the church, the law, and especially psychiatry, the Modern Religion. The festivities open in the private mental health clinic of Dr. Prentice (Alexander Pearson), who, as the lights go up, is interviewing an ingenue, Geraldine Barclay (Melissa Franklin), for a secretarial post. Under the pretext of determining her suitability for the job, the good doctor has Miss Barclay undress on a couch hidden behind a conveniently placed curtain. Enter Mrs. Prentice (Alexandra Phillips) at this most unpropitious time. While Dr. Prentice silently implores Miss Barclay to remain still behind the curtain, the couple launch into an epic shouting match, centered mostly on each other's sexual deficiencies.

While Dr. Prentice momentarily leaves the stage, Nicholas Beckett (Ted Chandler), a young page boy from the station hotel who prides himself on his sexual prowess, enters and attempts to blackmail Mrs. Prentice. Temporarily satisfied by Mrs. Prentice's promise of a secretarial post with her husband, Beckett leaves, promising to return shortly with the incriminating evidence.

The next fool to enter this madhouse is Dr. Rance (Keith Rogal), as a government psychiatrist checking whether Dr. Prentice's clinic is up-to-scratch. In his efforts to cover up his failed seduction, Dr. Prentice allows Rance to believe that Miss Barclay, still naked and prostrate behind the curtain, is a nymphomaniac patient of his.

Keep in mind that the aforementioned nonsense consumes all of about seven minutes, and the pace never lets up. The plot becomes increasingly intricate, demanding several rapid costume changes. But for all its potential for--and occasional use of--slap stick, What the Butler Saw becomes a fascinating Black Comedy. Joe Orton takes a grim view of the psychiatric wall-paper we all use to cover our infirmities and our sins. With a uniformly excellent cast, the play transcends its tenor of cocktail-party chatter.

Mark Lupke, as Seargeant Match, sent to find the now-missing tandem of Miss Barclay and Beckett, plays the Law with a straight man elegance that Buster Keaton might have envied. Keith Rogal portrays Dr. Rance with a maniacal energy, but lets loose in the final scene. Ted Chandler's Nicholas Beckett is flat at first, seemingly bored with the placidity of his first appearance in contrast to his later shenanigans. As the plot unfolds, he becomes more at case with his part, taking the caricature of Beckett to the limit.

Alexandra Phillips and Alexander Pearson, as the sexually deviant couple, work well together--his neurotic calmness offset by her frantic hysteria. As Dr. Prentice tries with the determination born of despair to hide the evidence of his misdemeanor. Mrs. Prentice rushes madly from one end of the stage to the other, always one step behind. Melissa Franklin, as the hapless Geraldine Barclay, adds an Edward Gorey-like gallows humor to the play. She plays the innocent, dumb blond with evenness, never falling into the easy trap of whining or simpering.

WHAT IS MOST REMARKABLE about the cast, and indeed, the entire production, is the consistently high level of energy and the split-second timing. Director Stephen Ives has fine-tuned this comedy of manners into a fast-paced social commentary, demanding consistent and sincere performances from his cast. He controls the humor and tone of the play with a light hand, never letting the performances lapse into schtick or inappropriate vaudeville. The set, by Constantine Antoniades, and the costumes, by Anne Troy, integrate naturally into the light tone of the production.

When Joe Orton was bludgeoned to death in 1967, he left only four plays--his aborted legacy to black comedy. What the Butler Saw is the sharpest and most direct attack on modern society. With What the Butler Saw. Orton tried to revive the social satire and black comedy style of Restoration Comedy and early silent movies. The current Lowell House production more than does justice to what Orton hoped to achieve.