As the warm Wisconsin night closes in, so does 'The Circle' at American Players Theatre
THEATER REVIEW: "The Circle" ★★★½ Through Sept. 25 at American Players Theatre, 5950 Golf Course Road, Spring Green, Wis.; Tickets: $39-$64 at 608-588-2361 or www.americanplayers.org
SPRING GREEN, Wis. — You have to wonder what Somerset Maugham — a former British intelligence agent of impeccable breeding and a man generally regarded as a creature of the English drawing room — would have thought about one of his plays competing with persistent Wisconsin heat, mosquitoes and overachieving crickets. But I think he would have enjoyed the rapt attention given to his gripping play “The Circle” by the smart audience you invariably find here at the American Players Theatre. Even the 'skeeters seemed to be lingering over the stage, drinking in a word or two.
Unlike so many of the constantly revived plays from the early 20th century — the Shaws, the Cowards — this is a play that very few of us on Tuesday night had seen before. “It's a sleeper,” said one delighted gentleman behind me, clearly engrossed in its deceptively wry and wise treatment of such little matters as love, marriage, politics, mistakes, regrets, compromises and the inevitable inclination of the young to ignore the wisdom of the old.
For, as Selina Hastings' recent biography, “The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham,” points out, Maugham was actually a very complicated man with a very complicated relationship with the English establishment. And that touch of anarchy, that note of cynicism, those unpredictable jolts of intellect and compassion, are what make “The Circle” so incredibly well rounded. It is an ideal match for the skilled repertory company at American Players and for the measured Chicago director, James Bohnen, who is at his best with just such a play.
Written in 1921, “The Circle” anticipates the massive social changes coming with the dawn of feminism and increased sexual freedom.
“Some of us are more mother,” one character observes to an uncomprehending man, “some of us are more woman.”
“I want to be free,” says a wife to her husband of three years. “Don't be ridiculous, darling,” comes the reply.
IF YOU GO: Spring Green is about 185 miles from Chicago. The drive via Interstate Highway 90 and U.S. Highway 14 typically takes between 3 and 31/2 hours. “The Circle” is being performed at American Players Theatre in rotating repertory in the Up-the-Hill Theatre, along with William Shakespeare's “As You Like It” and “All's Well That Ends Well,” George Bernard Shaw's “Major Barbara” and Lillian Hellman's “Another Part of the Forest.” The indoor Touchstone Theatre (open through Oct. 17) features Athol Fugard's “Exits and Entrances,” Samuel Beckett's “Waiting for Godot” and “The Syringa Tree” by Pamela Gein. The weekends of Aug. 20-22 and Sept. 10-12 are Chicago Open Houses, featuring special discounts and programming for residents of the Chicago area.