The Philanderer (The Arts Club) [review, theatre]
Did you know The Philanderer is The Arts Club’s 500th production? No, neither did I. Until they told me, of course. More importantly, I have been lucky to witness many of The Arts Club’s productions. So I was glad to be able to celebrate by attending The Philanderer this past weekend.
Philandering, in case you were wondering, is the polite word for promiscuity. Seeing as I’m not a native English speaker, I did not know this. So, I wondered what kind of play I was getting into but I did not read any reviews nor did I pay much attention to the publicity. I like attending plays with a clean slate. And I’m glad I did.
The Philanderer is, indeed, an extremely well-crafted, beautifully-acted treatise on human sexuality and the eternal question of why the hell can’t humans be monogamous?. While the first act is (in my opinion) a bit long, it felt so fast paced and the dialogue was so witty that it almost didn’t feel long.
The second act is extremely quick in its deployment yet gives us enough of a taste of what it looks like to Dr. Paramore to be married to a woman (Julia) who gets entangled with a philanderer (Charteris) for what almost seems to be a lifetime. Director Rachel Ditor achieves the almost impossibly gargantuan task of telling a philanderer’s story in such an endearing way that you can’t help but like the guy (despite his foibles).
All cast members do a great job of delivering the quirky, fast-paced, witty, quasi-ancient English language lines of dialogue generated by George Bernard Shaw. Moreover, as I mentioned above, despite the fact that Charteris is, indeed, a philanderer, you can’t help but like the guy. He is a womanizer yet his logic for being promiscuous and seducing other men’s wives almost seems non-faulty. That’s a testament to Tom Scholte’s charm and the fantastic work the cast does to support him in portraying the philanderer.
Congratulations to The Arts Club on yet another wonderful production. I would strongly recommend that you get tickets to The Philanderer and check it out, because we really enjoyed it. The Philanderer plays at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre until April 17th.
Disclosure: JT paid for our tickets on his own dime (e.g. we did NOT receive complimentary tickets). This post hasn’t been paid nor am I obligated to write it. In any review I write or publish on my site, I retain editorial control at all times, and producers and publicists are well aware of this. Should you have any questions/concern feel free to contact me via e-mail through my contact form.
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