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Review
Beau Brummel
59E59 Theaters
June 4, 2006
Morgan Wycks
mwycks@nyconstage.org
Beau Brummel, part of the Brits-Off-Broadway series, is a clever piece of theatre depicting how the man whose namesake synonymous with style fell from grace into encroaching madness and despair. Escaping debtor's prison in England, Mr. Brummel (Ian Kelly) is bereft in Calais where King George IV's impending arrival at the French court has him and his manservant on pins and needles. It is Brummel's hope to reingratiate himself with his former friend after a disastrous miscalculation of wit. That Brummel experiences high anxiety and delusions is clear from the opening scene when he threatens suicide with his razor while his exasperated valet, Austin (Ryan Early), must constantly divert his attention with games of visiting personages. Though one of the play's points, as Austin declares, is that famous for being famous is an empty and ridiculous accomplishment, one has to give Brummel credit, if we are to believe what he tells us, for redefining taste in deportment, clothes, bearing, and repartee. Otherwise, we might all still be wearing absurd pantaloons and mile-high wigs.
Ron Hutchison's script cunningly starts with a naked Brummel progressively showing how one's ablutions, preparations and ultimate presentation must be seriously attended and maintained. Through the morning rituals of dining and dressing, the fluctuations of angst, anger, anticipation, bickering and coping play themselves out, sometimes repetitively, while the final picture slowly comes together of the well-groomed and smartly (if a bit worn and shabby) attired man of the hour. Even the care of tying a simple cravat is a ceremony in and of itself. And through all this, Austin constantly thinks of ways to make money off his famous master's fame while Brummel resolutely berates him. This couple's duet is a poignant if pitiable one.
Simon Green's staging is relatively swift and engaging. Mr. Early's valet gets his laughs with nice comic timing and moves about his tasks in a reasonably unactory way, which unfortunately emphasizes Mr. Kelly's mannered and attitudinizing performance. At first, I was willing to give Mr. Kelly the benefit of the doubt. After all, the play is about a narcissistic man who strikes poses constantly aware of the impression he is making. However, the real person behind the façade never arrives. Even Brummel's devolution couldn't maintain the over-elocution of Kelly's delivery or the presentational stance of a broken man. The performance, perhaps like Brummel himself, is phony. It's too bad because obviously Mr. Kelly knows this character having written a biography of him and has demonstrated in his other performance, Cooking for Kings, that he can portray something honestly. ...end
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