Is there any viable way to make a good living as an artist? Are painters, playwrights and writers doomed to a life of constant destitution and need?
Those are the timeless questions addressed in “Is He Dead?,” the Creede Repertory Theatre company production running at the Arvada Center until Oct. 28. Billed as “a new comedy by Mark Twain,” the farce explores a hypothetical premise with a real-life character, French painter Jean-François Millet. The comedy, written by Twain during a bleak period of his life and updated by playwright David Ives more than 100 years after its completion, tackles the question of the value of art, creativity and originality with plenty of farce, irreverence and pratfalls.
Considering the age of the piece and its vintage of about 110 years, the most impressive part of the Arvada Center’s production is its timeliness and energy. The Creede company is in top form here, and the production shows just how a company that’s based in a rural town more than 250 miles away from Denver has garnered national attention and praise. Through a combination of on-point characterization, rapid-fire pacing and good, old-fashioned silliness, director Michael Perlman gets to the heart of Twain’s satirical genius. The skill and wit that made Twain the premiere American satirist of the 19th century is vibrant in this production, and it comes to life through the constant skill and flexibility of the Creede troupe.
Set in Paris in 1846, the action kicks off when we meet Millet, played by Steven Cole Hughes, and quickly find an in-depth view into the life of a starving artist, a creative type who’s under constant threat of starvation and homelessness. He’s got a loyal troupe of friends – comrades that include the American Agamemnon Buckner (John DiAntonio), the German Hans Von Bismark (Patrick Du Laney) and the Irishman Phelim O’Shaughnessy (Chad Afanador). He has the prospect of true love with Marie Leroux (Caitlin Wise), and the loyalty of her sister Cecile Leroux (Adrian Egolf) and her father, Papa Leroux (John Green). He’s also privileged with a rare talent, a skill with the brush and canvas that sees a steady production of masterpieces.
But all of those gifts and all of that loyalt doesn’t pay the bills for Millet. He’s in hock to Bastien André, a heartless userer who’s constantly threatening to repossess his house and claim all of his earthly possessions. To top that, André is also after Millet’s sweetie, Marie Leroux.
It’s a set-up straight out of Puccini (his famous opera ‘La Bohème’ tells a similar tale of starving artists), but the novel twist comes when Millet’s ragtag band of comrades come up with a novel idea to ramp up the value of Millet’s work. Tell the public he’s sick. Tell the public he’s dying. Tell the public he’s dead. That’s sure to make the price of his canvases skyrocket, they conclude.
What follows is a brand of farce that feels entirely modern. Cross-dressing, gender confusion, awkward social situations and pratfalls abound as Millet and his gang put the plan into place. The laughs come steadily and easily. Scenes with a gender-bending Hughes, costumed as a female relative of Millet who’s grieving the painter’s sudden illness, interacting with the well-to-do Madame Caron (Christy Brandt) and Madame Bathilde (Anne Butler) are knee slapping. Arp makes for a perfect villain, and DiAntonio, Du Laney and Afanador make up and ideal trio of bumbling, good-natured idiots.
The rapid pace of the comedy and the constant fluidity of the cast’s performance helps Twain’s signature brand of humor pop and sparkle, despite some dated references and some dense stretches of dialogue. After more than a century, his jibes and wordplay still feel fresh, and they reach their full potential with the craft of a world-class company.
THREE STARS OUT OF FOUR
“Is He Dead?” runs until Oct. 28 at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada. Tickets start at $38. Information: 720-898-7200 or arvadacenter.org.
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707