‘Take Her, She’s Yours!’ Takes the Cake

This weekend’s Adams House Pool Theatre production of “Take Her, She’s Yours! or Till Divorce Do Us Part” served up a fall Farcefest full of philandering, French-isms, foppishness, and fervor. This year’s on-stage fracas was as conflicted as its title, comically portraying the blurred line between marital bliss and marital blight. Unfortunately, in some parts of the performance, the line between “great” and “grating” was just as blurred.

French playwright Georges Feydeau originally titled his play “A qui ma femme?,” which translator and Wesleyan University Professor Norman R. Shapiro modified into the more evocative title of the Adams production. In rollicking hyperbole, “Take Her, She’s Yours!,” directed by Emerson College Professor Sunil Swaroop and produced by David A. Seley, demonstrated how the doldrums of married life can lead to a disastrous array of affairs.

The central conflict is between landlord Gustave Marcassol (Jaime Williams) and his prim wife Claudine (Harvard theater veteran Masha O. Godina ’08), who, although together just a year, are already mired in the marital monotony of slipper-knitting and collar-starching.

Enter Countess Popova (Eve H. Bryggman ’10), a velvet-clad Russian vamp who rents a room beneath the Marcassols. Unable to restrain himself, Gustave quickly becomes more than just the Countess’ landlord. But he is convinced that he can only run away with her if he can secure a suitable second husband for Claudine.

Fortunately, his wife’s former flame Edouard (Delon J. De Metz ’10) has just returned from a year in America, complete with dashing smile, loaded wallet, and a heart dedicated to Claudine. These plans go awry when the affairs lose their glamour and deeper secrets unfold.

The script offers plenty of opportunities for easy laughs, high physical comedy, and characterization. In farce, there is considerable leeway to pursue these ends; exaggeration, absurdity, and extremes are all allowed and expected. However, they must be executed with clarity and consistency. Unfortunately, these crucial aspects were notably absent. The staging was unfocused, made unbalanced used of the theatre, and poorly conveyed the time period.

The costuming was similarly anachronistic, and did not fully reflect the social status or personalities of the characters. Consistency in characterization was lacking, especially in minor characters where accents trailed off and on at random.

Occasionally jumbled blocking diluted the humor of asides that were meant for the audience, but were difficult to distinguish from communication between the characters. Some of these inconsistencies, coupled with some actors’ tendency to overact, made the first part of the play abrasive and shrill.

Fortunately, leads Williams, De Metz, and Godina salvaged the play’s comic value. Their onstage rapport and commanding presence provided great entertainment, particularly in the final act when both Marcassol and Edouard pursue Claudine. The hysteria of the final act was very well executed, largely due to the pint-sized Godina, whose impassioned portrayal of a wronged wife and a buttoned-up lusty lady elicited the most laughs.

The second part of “Take Her, She’s Yours! or Till Divorce do Us Part” completely redeemed the performance in spite of its initial discordance. The chemistry between Godina and the two male leads was funny and just sweet enough that the underlying message—that true love is not an idealized state, but instead an everyday appreciation between two people—did not seem saccharine.

—Crimson reviewer Erin F. Riley can be reached at eriley@fas.harvard.edu.