Triumph of Love

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, chances are it is either a duck or a harlequin in a top hat with patches on his coat and sequins on his knees. That would be Paul Barner who is neither a duck nor a harlequin because Tad Baierlein is Harlequinn, a servant in the household of the wise philosopher Hermocrates, coolly played by Michael A. Parker. Barner is actually the gardener, Dimas, who plays his cards loosely for the world to see and his wit close to his chest.

David Blumenstock as Agis and Catherine Duquette as Leonide.

This currently takes place at the Germinal Stage Denver in its production Triumph of Love, written by the 17th Century playwright Marivaux.

Because of its age-old dialogue between heart and mind, love and reason, and Ed Baierlein’s unique ability to climb inside a script to turn 17th Century thinking into a contemporary thought, Triumph of Love is one of the wittiest, funniest comedies currently playing on any Denver stage.

The princess, Leonide (Catherine Duquette) knows she is not the rightful heir to the throne. Her family having grabbed the power from the family of Prince Agis, (David Blumenstock), having fallen head over heels in love with Agis, who has been in hiding, and having found him, and wanting to restore justice, she concocts a plan with her maid, Corine, (Michelle Welton) to infiltrate the house of Hermocrates dressed as a man. There is a myth rolling around the villages that Leonide wants to kill Agis. She knows she can’t just walk up to him and say “Hi, I’m Leonide.” Her plan is to convince Hermocrates that she as a he desperately wants to study under him, to drink in his wisdom, thereby, hopefully would be invited to stay.

Plans go awry, everyone discovers she and Corine are women, except for Agis and Hermocates’s cool, calculating sister, Leontine, (Erica Sarzin-Borillo).

Duquette wonderfully connects with male stances and gestures and yet through her eyes and her words, the female burning passion to accomplish her goal lies just beneath the surface. On the outside she has to be cool. Her desire shimmers around the edges. Duquette provides this duality.

Parker’s Hermocrates has no use for love. His philosophy based solely on reason, until he is tricked into falling in love with the disguised woman.

Cold, cool, and calculating Sarzin-Borillo wears even thicker armor under the guise of reason as Leontine. Her consumption of recognizing her loneliness blinds her to the fact that this man she has fallen in love with is not a man at all.

In stylized form, the stage is divided with the garden on an upper platform with two desks on the lower platform to represent various places in the house. In spite of the deliberate confusion swirling amongst the characters, most of the actors remain on stage even though they are not involved. However, there is never any confusion as to what is happening to whom and why.

Barner plays Dimas with a straight innocent face, as though he is totally unaware of how funny he is. Consequently, Dimas is hysterical, and Barner makes him so.

Blumenstock is delightful in his confusion of finding a buddy in the disguised Leonide, thrown for a loop when he realizes he is strongly attracted to him, and relieved to discover she is a woman, thinking her name is Cecile.

The role of Harlequin fits Baierlein to a tee. As a servant, he maintains dignity while his eyes twinkle with fun. His stiffness works for him, even when he falls in love with Corine.

Against rationale and reason, Leonide proves the power of the heart contains a magical power, only the mind can dream of controlling.

Fast-paced, Triumph of Loves strikes a contemporary cord as though it were written yesterday.

To miss this production would be to cheat oneself of a golden hilarious moment.