Fantasio Charms Francophile Audience

Author: Alexandra Hay

On Thursday and Friday evenings, a devoted Francophile audience filed into the McCullough Social Space for the presentation of the French circle's play, "Fantasio." As the play was performed entirely in French, spectators were mostly limited to French professors, students and exchange students.
The play was written in 1834 by Alfred de Musset and tells the story of Fantasio (Associate Professor of French Charles Nunley), who impersonates a jester in the court of the king of BaviËre (Bernadette Gunn '04) and finds his freedom within the role of the fool, a familiar theme from Shakespeare.
At the same time the prince of Mantou (AndrÈ Estanislao '05) is visiting the court to form an alliance by marrying the princess. Of course the princess (Rachel Austin '05) does not want to marry the prince of Mantou, but the two kingdoms are at war, and in order to save her people she will sacrifice herself. Through many odd tricks and turns of comedy, including the Prince dressing up as a servant and Fantasio stealing the Prince's wig, the king of BaviËre and the prince of Mantou grow increasingly antagonistic and eventually the Prince leaves without marrying the princess, promising a war which no one seems to mind.
The play began with a brief dance number choreographed by Cook Commons Residential Assistant Sean Hoskins. Although intriguing and inventive, the dance was only loosely related to the play that followed and did not seem particularly relevant. With serious faces and abstract movements the dancers introduced a thoughtful, philosophical show, instead of the slapstick comedy that followed.
The program's synopsis of the play also stressed its darker, philosophical undertones, asking, "On what condition can one hope to achieve an exchange between souls without the security of a mask?" However, the philosophical questions inherent in comedy and the fool were buried beneath the difficulty of the language and the informal nature of the production.
The highlights of the performance occurred in the large, comedic gestures that transcended language and were easily understood by all. Of course, my French is less than perfect, and I missed much of the dialogue, so it is quite possible that a more complete understanding of the play would reveal the darker side hinted at in the dance and the program. I was not alone, however, and many students found the dialogue hard to understand, due to both the speed of delivery and the difficulty of vocabulary. One notoriously exacting professor admitted that the language of the play was very complex, and for once did not expect her students to understand everything.
Despite this, the performance was generally delightful and engaging with a kind of middle school charm. A set of cardboard trees weighed down with trash bags and a freestanding door visible on both sides added to its endearing quality.
Almost everyone in the audience knew most of the cast and each other, talking excitedly before the show began with anticipation. And although hardly a masterpiece of theater, no one left the show less than satisfied or without a few good laughs.