Theater Review: La Bête with David Hyde Pierce, Mark Rylance and Joanna Lumley

From left, Greta Lee, Mark Rylance, Joanna Lumley and David Hyde Pierce

It’s a Drive-By Wording and Lots of Fun
By Lauren Yarger
It’s a drive-by wording: You’re struck so many times so quickly that you don’t know what hit you and you didn’t have time to get the license plate. In the case of Broadway’s La Bête, the driver is Mark Rylance and the vehicle is playwright David Hirson’s imaginative and rhyming couplets and meter script. In all, it’s one of the most unique stage experiences of the season.

Rylance’s tour de force which includes an opening 20-minute monologue during which he hardly takes a breath is one of those moments on stage when the audience knows its witnessing theater history. It’s a perfect storm of acting, writing and direction (Matthew Warchus) that sends a tsunami of theatergoers out onto the streets saying, “You have to see this!”

Truthfully, you’ll need to see the work to appreciate it since the couplets delivered in doublets (it takes place in mid 17th century France) is very different and such a wall of words, that ironically, it leaves one almost speechless to describe it.

Rylance is Valere, a nose-picking, belching and otherwise disgusting and obnoxious street performer who possesses little theatrical talent. He is capable of speaking in long, run-on sentences, however, which his even larger ego believes everyone is as interested in hearing as he. The portrayal is bizarre and funny (think Bobcat Goldthwait’s character Zed from the 'Police Academy" movies, only not quite as smart and drunk). He’ll have you saying, “Oh my gosh, did he really just do or say that?” and if you aren’t sharp, you won’t be sure because about 5000 other words of dialogue probably already sped by (or “verbobos“ as Valere likes to call his many words).

Valere’s performances have moved the Princess (Joanna Lumley, known to television audiences for her role in “Absolutely Fabulous”) and she has commanded that Valere join the thespians at court, led by classical writer Elomire (David Hyde Pierce). He can’t stand the clown and protests, when he can get a word in edgewise, that Valere won’t fit in with his troupe (Stephen Ouimette, Sally Wingert, Robert Lonsdale, Lisa Joyce, Michael Milligan and Liza Sadovy round out the ensemble of players and courtiers). Also part of the craziness at court is Greta Lee as Dorine, Elomire’s maid who can speak only in words that rhyme with “oo” and who engages the others in charades-like pantomiming to convey messages.

“A year at court has undermined your morals,” Princess tells Elomire. “You’ve grown content to rest upon your laurels as if afflicted by some dead ennui. Valere will challenge your complacency!” In other words, she uses her power to challenge Elomire and to give Vallere a shot and since there's no doubt about who is in charge here, made obvious by her fabulous entrance (Mark Thompson, set and costume design), they have to try to work something out.

A competition of sorts ensues between the two artists. Who will get the royal endorsement and get to stay at court? Hirson gets the golden pen award for writing an engaging play in verse that also manages to deliver a knock-down commentary on today’s culture and society and what influences them. Elomire discovers that in the end we need to stand by our principles and be “measured by the choices that we make.”

While Rylance chews up the stage for almost two hours, the fork and knife are provided by Hyde Pierce’s understated performance. He reacts with expressions, actions, silence and humor that are a foil to the more flamboyant Rylance. In not needing to upstage or get his fair share of the action, he perfects the piece. It’s a welcome change of pace (it’s almost like Hirson took the princess’s challenge himself and wrote something different from the same-old, same-old that seems to be infecting new plays these days?) and a theater experience that won’t be matched.

The Broadway run of La Bête (it means beast in French), which won the 1990 Olivier Award (England’s equivalent of the Tonys) for Best Play, follows a run at the Comedy Theatre in London’s West End. It’s at the Music Box Theater, 239 West 45th St., NYC until Feb. 12. Tickets are available by calling 212-239-6900 or by visiting ww.telecharge.com.

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