ARTSMONDAY: Cast Stimulates Screwy ‘Butler’

When Joe Orton’s “What the Butler Saw” was first performed in 1969, the audience response—all shrill booing and ripped programs—might have been expected. After all, this is a sex comedy with a major subplot centered on the missing penis of Winston Churchill. Three decades later, when even the bawdiest wordplay lands you a PG-13, “What the Butler Saw” is now appreciated as Orton’s, ahem, seminal work. The play uses uncouth sexual humor to create a farce that comments on the psychiatric profession, marriage, sexual misconduct, and the nature of insanity in general.

Last Friday, a cast of six talented actors from Harvard and the New England Conservatory (NEC) delivered polished performances in the Leverett House Drama Society and EarthHart Productions’ rendition of “What the Butler Saw.” The production, directed by non-resident film and drama tutor at Winthrop House Andrew Arthur, was staged in the intimate setting of the Leverett House Old Library Theatre.

Mayhem ensues when one perverted English psychiatrist, the secretary he tries to seduce, his nymphomaniac wife, a hotel page, a self-assured government official, and a police sergeant find themselves together at a psychiatric ward, caught in a web of hidden agendas, lies, and gender disguises. As if the plot contrivances weren’t confounding enough, many of the plays’ absurd lines seem to make no sense at all, only becoming relevant at the show’s revelatory (and morally disquieting) end.

Arthur seemed to have coached the cast well in the execution of various staging and prop maneuvers. These details, though seemingly unimportant, were nevertheless quite integral to the smooth conveyance of the plot.

Especially entertaining was the performance of NEC sophomore Sara Jayne Blackmore as Geraldine Barclay. Blackmore seemed especially at home in the play’s screwy chaos as the naïve secretary, always remaining in character and drawing laughter from the audience with her animated facial contortions.

Andrew Laing ’08 was also very convincing as the overbearing government official Dr. Rance, whose dramatic conclusions and nonsensical interpretations and reinterpretations of various medical “theories” poke fun at the psychology of Freudian ideas.

With the help of an accent coach, each of the actors made a valiant effort to maintain a British accent throughout. At times this was more successful than others, but the effort was commendable—especially considering the large number of lines most of the characters had to memorize.

What ultimately sells the play is how solid this ensemble really is; juniors Tara Jamshidian (NEC ’06) and Brian A. Finn ’06, along with freshmen Philip R. Goldfarb ’08 and Amit Kumar ’08, all give competent performances, tackling the physically and lexically demanding roles with aplomb.

competent performances, tackling the physically and lexically demanding roles with aplomb.