Dramatic "Experiment" a success Students and alumnus deliver a polished performance

Author: Josh Axelrod

Thought-provoking, hilarious, dramatic. Last weekend's production of Shelagh Stephenson's "An Experiment With an Air Pump" was all this and more. Directed by Professor of Theatre Cheryl Farone, the play follows the lives of two families living in the same house in Newcastle-on-Tyne at the turn of two separate centuries, 200 years apart.

Based both on Joseph Wright of Derby's painting "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump" and Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, "An Experiment With an Air Pump" takes as its backdrop the ever progressing scientific world and the many ethical and social dilemmas that the constant pursuit of "progress" may inflict on our personal lives, as well as on society as a whole.

The play opens in the present with Ellen (Becky Martin '04.5), a young scientist whose life long inspiration has come from her first viewing of Joseph Wright's painting. Martin's starry-eyed delivery of the opening monologue set a uncomfortably contempletive mood in the play's opening moments, but the bustling movement onto the stage of the play's 1799 cast soon had the audience rapt.

The family of Joseph Fenwick (Alexander Draper '88) including his wife Susannah (Cassidy Freeman '04.5); daughters Harriet (Lauren Turner Kiel '07) and Maria (Lucy Faust '07); their servant Isobel ( Eliza Hulme '05); and two visiting young scientists, Roget (Conor O'Neil '07) and Armstrong (John Stokvis '05) are found standing around the fabled "air pump," watching as Joseph experiments on a bird in a vacuum. Yes, the situation is ridiculous, but it raises the plays central question: How much are we willing to lose in order to progress?

As the play of the past unfolds, this question is hit upon again and again as we watch Armstrong woo the hunchbacked Isobel because he is fascinated by her deformity, willing to ruin her life just to see her naked spine. Hulme, who was startlingly pathetic and pity-evoking as Isobel, delivered a convincing performance--, even stirring tears from the audience. Stovkis' playing of Armstrong left the audience confused about his character's motivations during much of the play, but he triumphed in several well-timed farcical moments.

Fenwick, meanwhile, is so driven in his pursuit of knowledge that he lets his family life dissipate until his wife has almost drunk herself into oblivion. Draper was entertainingly irritable as Fenwick, but Freeman often stole the scenes between husband and wife, eliciting hysterical laughter in her tremendously funny performance as a drunk.

Maria's unraveling love affair with "Edward," her distant betrothed, was brilliantly unwound by Faust as she read a series of letters between the pair throughout the show. Faust and Kiel -- who were costumed beautifully by Artist-in-Residence Jule Emerson -- frequently stole the show with their captivating physical comedic presence and believable bickering as twin sisters.

The supposed lessons of this portrayed past have not come to fruition 200 years later as we see Ellen and her husband Tom (performed, in his second role, by Draper) debate whether or not Ellen should take the job offered by Kate (Nell Wright '05.5), another young and successful scientist. Unfortunately, the link between the two time periods was obscured by Farone's decision to cast additional actors in the 20th century parts, intead of having members of the 1799 cast play their intended modern counterpart.

Luckily, this decision permitted Peter Abrikian '05 to join the cast as Phil, the builder. Abrikian gave a hilarious, unabashed performance that perfectly fulfilled the requirments of his wacky role. Draper also shined in his scenes as Tom, skillfully pulling the audience into the play's weighter themes with his performance.

In the end, the play's openness to the future is delightful. Certainly it argues for an ethical approach to science, but it does not completely undermine the wonder of human discovery. There have been very few plays at Middlebury that have achieved such a perfect balance of thoughtfulness and entertainment. Certainly we must say, hats off to the actors whose performances allowed for such a discussion to develop on the stage, naturally and effectively.

Farone also deserves a fierce round of applause for staging one of the most moving and hilarious productions in recent memory.