Word: fortson
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...actors in Impromptu, consequently, must with some exceptions all have two different characters, must be able to switch back and forth quickly, and must be able to time their lines differently in and out of rehearsal Most of them do this admirably, and Deborah Fortson's production is lively and imaginative...
Richard Monette, as Moliere, played his part with authority, and as the central character he set the necessary fast pace. His imitation of an overdone performance of Lear was very amusing; my only complaint is that he seemed to have too much energy. Perhaps this is the way Miss Fortson invisioned Moliere, but I wished Monette could have gotten more convincingly exasperated, or spoken more naturally. He sounded like he was acting, and this is a major fault, since in the play Moliere makes fun of unnatural actors...
...Miss Fortson has the actors create their personalities by pantomime peripheral to the main action--usually while the director is talking. This device often produces amusing irony, as when she makes Du Croisy (Charles Siegel), who is a would-be literary lion in the inner play, a shy wooer in real life...
Only Debbie Fortson, as Cathleen, seems to understand that there are ordinary as well as pathetic lines in the play, that the juxtaposition of these two elements is what gives the play its beauty. Her side comments are the most human parts of the production, and go a long way to saving it. She also seems most at ease with the Irish rhythm of her lines...
...women are not so satisfactory. Deborah Fortson is lovely as Cordelia and moves well in the part, but she does not always speak to full effectiveness. Cordelia, at any rate, the vessel of all love and virtue, may be a more difficult role than Lear. Her sisters Goneril and Regan, Madelon Hambro and Emily Levine, are excellent bitches but bad actresses. They read lines in a shrewish monotone which neither entertains nor shocks, and they fail to distinguish between themselves so that their characters, except for different dresses, might be identical. Regan should be the softer, nicer...