Players' Ring
PresentsRhubarb and Rose Honey
by F. Gary Newton
directed by Tim Robinson
Rhubarb and Rose Honey was written in 1993 by Players’ Ring founder F. Gary Newton and is based on Moliere’s famous piece Le Malade imaginaire.
The storyline of Moliere’s play is simple. A fearful but miserly hypochondriac, divides his time between summoning the doctor to care for his ills and trying not to settle the resultant bills. He resolves to marry his daughter to a medical student, hoping to acquire unlimited access to free consultation. The chosen fiancé is an unattractive dolt, who would never interest her, even if she were not already in love with clever, handsome man, who poses as her music instructor.
The hypochondriac’s wife, however, plans to send the daughter to a convent, removing her from the line inheritance. At the urging of their sensible servant he feigns death to test his wife's affection only to discover her contempt. Again with the help of the servant, the young lovers convince him to liberate himself from the twin tyrannies of his ailing body and his grasping physicians by becoming his own doctor. The play closes with the physicians' lively examination of him and his entry into the profession, full of musical pomp and pidgin Latin.
Gary Newton wrote his play to be performed in the style of ‘Commedia dell'arte,’ Italian, meaning "comedy of professional artists." This was a form of improvisational theater which began in the 16th century and was popular from then until the 18th century, although it is still performed today. Traveling teams of players would set up an outdoor stage and provide amusement in the form of juggling, acrobatics, and, more typically, humorous plays based on a repertoire of established characters with a rough storyline, called Canovaccio.
The performances were improvised around preordained situations, adultery, jealousy, old age, love. The dialogue and action could easily be made topical and adjusted to satirize local scandals, current events, or regional tastes, mixed with ancient jokes and punch lines. Characters were identified by costume, masks, and even props, such as the slapstick.
Thus, the commedia dell'arte, with its stock situations and characters and improvised dialogue, has shown the way to many other forms of drama, from pantomime and Punch and Judy - which features debased forms of the commedia characters - to the modern animated cartoon, situation comedy, and even professional wrestling.
