The adaptation of Moliere’s comedy, infused with commedia dell’arte, opens this week in Talent

By Jim Flint

Barret O’Brien and Alex Boyles once understudied together at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and they have long admired each other’s work. Now they’re collaborating in “Scapino!,” the French comedy opening Wednesday, Sept. 11, at the Camelot Theatre in Talent.

O’Brien plays the titular role of Scapino, a valet who contrives to bring his master’s children and their various loves together through all kinds of trickery, despite his master’s own plans for them.

Boyles directs. An actor, director, voice actor and currently an associate artistic director at Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Boyles was brought in after rehearsals had already started. Michael J. Hume, the original director, had stepped down for personal reasons.

Drawn by commedia dell’arte

“I knew I would enjoy directing this piece,” Boyles said, “because anything based on the commedia dell’arte style is bound to be full of fun characters and physical comedy. And I love to work with both.”

It was Hume who drew O’Brien to the role as Scapino.

“Michael is a dear friend and a local theater hero,” O’Brien said. “He is the one who discovered this script, Danny Ocean-ed the cast, and laid the runway for the exceptional director Alex Boyles to come in and give it wings to fly.”

O’Brien was in Texas at the time, attending a film festival.

“Michael called and said there was this big, fast, fun, silly, important play, and asked if I would join the team,” O’Brien said. As a longtime admirer of what Artistic Director Gwen Overland and Executive Director Dann Hauser have accomplished at Camelot, O’Brien enthusiastically said yes.

Assistant director Jonathan Luke Stevens, who has training in commedia, led workshops for the cast on the play’s characters and how they are portrayed in classic commedia.

“This has been incredibly helpful,” Boyles said. “However, ‘Scapino!’ is not commedia, it is simply rooted in in it, so we are taking the best of both worlds, utilizing commedia when it is called for, but also keeping the play grounded in logic and story, which sometimes commedia did not.”

Moving Moliere’s story to Naples

The 1974 play was adapted by Jim Dale and Frank Dunlop from “Les Fourberries de Scapin” by Moliere. In this adaptation, the French comedy is transposed to modern Naples.

O’Brien said the tale is brand new to him.

“That is one of the great thrills of this adventure,” he said. “I am meeting these characters in much the same way many in the audience will.”

He loves going to work every day, working with the “Scapino!” team.

‘Wide-open possibilities’

“It’s an incredible company of actors, designers, directors, understudies, stage managers and crew,” he said. “It’s such a gift to arrive to work each day with wide-open possibilities. And thrilling. I mean, we get to be in Naples with the sun shining and live music in the air.”

O’Brien says he thrives under Boyles’ direction.

“He’s compassionate, funny, calm, deeply intelligent, wickedly smart, and is always looking for the best answer in the room,” O’Brien said.

It goes both ways.

“Barrett has been an absolute joy to work with,” Boyles said, “because what matters most is finding the truth of the character. And he understands comedy to a level that means I can let him do his own thing.”

O’Brien said “Scapino!” invites in the full scope of performance.

“In fact,” he said, “the ‘guest list’ is very wide and inclusive. Dance is invited, as are singing, circus arts, poetry, drumming, accordion — you name it. And we, as a company, have embraced that. Suffice it to say, performing in a play like ‘Scapino!’ requires a good warmup and lots of hydration.”

O’Brien has worked internationally and believes those experiences have helped him grow as an actor.

“I adore the heightened physical traditions of Samuel Becket (Ireland), Ariane Mnouchkine (France), Jerzy Grotowski (Poland), and Pina Bausch (Germany). These traditions reach back into history, yet there are no cobwebs on them. The work is vibrant, gutsy, muscular and rigorous,” he said.

All-in commitment

He appreciates it when the story requires a certain level of all-in commitment from the players.

“The play ‘Scapino!’ certainly is of that ilk,” he said.

The first time O’Brien took the stage he was 9 years old, living in New Orleans, and playing one of the sons in Ernest Ferlita’s “Black Medea.” He had one scene, no lines and a cool costume — unaware at the time that he was killed every night.

“Because my scene was in Act I, I went home at intermission,” he said. “Since the brutal murders happen offstage in Act II, I didn’t realize my character’s fate until years later.”

This time, O’Brien will be sticking around until the final bow. Scapino lives to scheme another day.

“Scapino!” plays from Sept. 11 to Oct. 6 at the Camelot Theatre, 101 Talent Ave., in Talent. Ticket prices are pay-what-you-can for Sept. 11, $20 for the Sept. 12 preview, and $38 thereafter.

To purchase tickets or for more information about the play and other offerings at the Camelot, go to camelottheatre.org.

Reach writer Jim Flint at jimflint.ashland@yahoo.com.

Sept. 11: Corrected to say Danny instead of Billy Ocean-ed.