A Welcome Return to the World of Wodehouse 

Jeeves in Bloom – Shaw Chicago

 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “Jeeves” as a generic term for any useful and reliable person. That understated entry is derived from the name of the leading character from P.G. Wodehouse’s series of 35 comedic short stories and 11 novels, all published between 1915 and 1930. Jeeves is the personal servant, or valet, for the affluent Bertie Wooster, a young man of leisure in and around London during the period between the Wars. Bertie is always getting himself into scrapes and problems, often involving misguided romantic involvements. Jeeves, a droll fellow with an encyclopedic mind, and talent for thinking outside the box, is frequently called upon to extricate Bertie and his friends and relations from various dilemmas.

In ShawChicago’s second foray into the world of Jeeves and Wooster, Robert Scogin directs this staged reading of Margaret Raether’s dramatic adaptation with obvious affection. For anyone unfamiliar with the past 24 years of ShawChicago’s glorious productions, Scogin takes George Bernard Shaw’s advice to heart. “A play should go like a symphony,” he recommended. “It’s in the play’s oral delivery that we find pitch, pace or timbre…essentially word music.” Primarily utilizing only the spoken music of the words, with very few embellishments, Mr. Scogin directs his cast, ornamented only by their facial expressions and body language.

Last season, Scogin’s wonderful “Jeeves Intervenes” was a highlight during the holiday season. Once again employing just the simplest suggestion of costuming, pantomimed props and scenery left entirely to the audience’s imagination, Scogin has wrung every drop of humor from this new, delightful comedy and has left it all on the stage for audiences to enjoy. Unlike most of Mr. Scogin’s productions that tend to keep his actors glued to the podiums where their scripts rest, the director has incorporated a fair amount of slapstick into the staging. The result is pure magic.

Once again the cast is led by the handsomely composed Doug MacKechnie as the almost omniscient valet, Jeeves. Able to anticipate his master’s every wish and need, MacKechnie delivers his lines with the dryness of well-mixed martini. His subtle sarcasm and deadpan drollery are nicely balanced by the charismatic Christian Gray’s rambunctious Bertie Wooster. The rubber-faced Mr. Gray speaks volumes, even when his character has no words to utter. It’s all in his expressions. Both actors play nicely off each other with great sensitivity and chemistry. MacKechnie is the yin to Mr. Gray’s yang, the impassive pokerface to Bertie’s frenzied flamboyance.

In supporting roles, the remaining five actors are simply superb. Ever excellent in any role he undertakes, Gary Alexander creates a very funny fussbudget of a fellow as Bertie’s eccentric friend, Augustus Fink-Nottle. A self-described authority on amphibians, newts, in particular, Gussie confides to Bertie of his infatuation with Madeline Basset, an unconventional young lady, in her own right. Miss Basset, as deliciously played by the joyful Allison Selby Cook, is an amateur poet and a romanticist who finds delight in all things Nature. She also believes that fairies reside among the gardens of the country estate of her Aunt Dahlia (a exuberantly effusive Mary Michell) and Uncle Thomas (the hilariously high-flown Jack Hickey). There Gussie has fortuitously reunited with the ethereal Miss Basset, but the shy and tongue-tied Mr. Fink-Nottle desperately requires an intervention by Bertie and Jeeves in order to make his affection known. Add to this story Anatole, a talented, yet temperamental chef from France, played to comedic completion by Matt Penn, and you’ve got a savory recipe for fun.

Employing the same oral techniques that have made this reader’s theatre company such a popular source of smart entertainment for a quarter of a century, Robert Scogin again offers a breath of early Springtime to Chicago audiences. In the further adventures of Bertie Wooster and his faithful manservant Jeeves, adapted by the talented Margaret Raether, we have a newly delectable comedy of fairies, food and flighty amphibians. Love is, indeed, in the air but, fortunately for Bertie Wooster, Jeeves is able to reroute the passion to the rightful recipients.

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented February 3-26 by ShawChicago at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling 312-587-7390 or by going to http://bit.ly/JeevesInBloomTix.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.