The Way of the World

Saturday night the Idler Players of Radcliffe presented William Congreve's "The Way of the World" in a modern-dress version. This play, the wittiest of Restoration comedies, fares badly by modernization because it is best enjoyed as a period piece. Taking "The Way of the World" of the Restoration takes a great deal out of the ply itself.

To transplant successfully any play from its original setting to modern times seems go demand that it have either a plot of some universal theme or else a pertinent parallel to the present. The Idler Players obviously felt the latter to be true, which may be so. Counterparts of Mr. Congreve's people certainly do exist today, but the people on the stage at Agassiz are confused and confusing hybrids, standing with one leg in the Seventeenth and one in the Twentieth Century.

There are two additional hardships put upon the audience and the actors by the modernization that possibly did not occur to the Idlers. Modern audiences expect modern plays (as this one now is) to have a plot they can follow or else no plot at all. "The Way of the World" contains the world's most complicated plot: when seeing it done in Restoration style the plot rightly seems of no importance; when it becomes a play of Cafe Society, there is a natural and frustrating inclination to try and figure it all out.

The hardship put upon the actors is their being deprived the use of 17th Century costumes and paraphernalia, the mere use of which would have given them better understanding of their roles, and opportunities for some amusing stage business which grey flannels and New Looks do not offer. Above these obstacles, there is some fine comedy acting by the Idler group. Barbara Tuttle's Millimant was very clever, warm, and extremely attractive. The Witwoud of Peter Davis-Dibble seemed to carry over best into modern dress and he was particularly funny in his drunk scene. Carol LaCascio, as Foible, and Harris Clay as Sir Wilful Witwoud were especially good. The part of Lady Wishfort was a disappointment, both in the too-subtle way the Lady's name was pronounced and in Nancy Rodriguez's unsubtle portrayal.

Nicholas Van Slyck directed the 15-piece Harvard Chamber Orchestra in a score he wrote for the Idler production. Mr. Van Slyck said his music was "built upon 18th Century patterns but lies solidly in the 20th Century harmonically and instrumentally." It seems to have made the transition with more case than Mr. Congreve's play but like it was very gay and spirited. The music is by no means an incidental part of the Idler production, and combined with the lively acting of the Idlers, should give an amusing and interesting evening's experience to anyone who drops around to Agassiz tonight or tomorrow night.