Word: stattel
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Pirandello's characters stand on constantly shifting planes of reality. When the Stepdaughter (Lise Hilboldt) and the Father (Robert Stattel) see "real" actors imitating the gestures and words they had used in moments of true passion, they initially cannot recognize themselves. When they do, they greet the realization with both laughter and despair. Mirrors and lighting (designed by Michael Yeargan and Jennifer Tipton, respectively) make such scenes visually exciting and intellectually stimulating...
...text by the director, most actors suffer from a lack of confidence. Most lines are delivered too quickly. Uncertain about their characters, or about their characters' relationships with other characters, many actors fling their lines away rather than directing them at the audience or another character. Robert Stattel as the Duke is the worst offender in this regard, often literally spitting out his lines; since the Duke has several long and emotional scenes, the results range from something resembling a temper tantrum to outright melodrama. A similar lack of control hampers the performances of Marianna Owen as Isabella and John...
...explication of the Salic Law (somewhat abridged), Paul Craig correctly avoids turning his Archbishop into a comic Polonius (one mistake in the Olivier film), but is too bland later doubling as Captain Gower. Pirie Macdonald '54 ably doubles as the conspiring Scroop and the Scottish officer Jamy. And Robert Stattel is a commendably solid Duke of Exeter...
...staging. But there have been a good many alterations in the casting, often for the better. Jeremy Geidt's toping Toby and Jacqueline Coslow's merry Maria are superior to their 1978 counterparts, and Reno Roop's sappy Sir Andrew is just as funny as his predecessor's. Robert Stattel has been upgraded from Antonio to Duke Orsino, and acquits himself admirably if without the three-dimensionality that Lawrence Guittard gave the role...
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