"Doctor Love"

This past weekend I had the chance to go see the play “Doctor Love” presented by The J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts School of Theatre & Dance. The play is by Molière and this production is directed by Dr. Jonathan Marks.

I’m not sure where to start with this one. I could talk about how the play started in the lobby (very cool) or how the cast and crew reworked the ideas of Molière and made the story their own or how it’s just absurd and fun in all the best ways.

I guess I will start with the lobby thing because it was, after all, how my experience with this show started. I arrived early with a friend of mine since neither of us had been to a show at Texas Tech in a number of years and weren’t sure exactly where we were going. We got to the building and ushers with silver masquerade masks showed us in. At least we knew we were in the right place.

We got our tickets and were told that the show would begin in the lobby. We stood around taking in all the other guests when three extravagantly dressed individuals approached a set of microphones that had been placed on the staircase within the hall (which is just crazy nice, by the way). A number of other actors, similarly dressed in exaggerated 17thcentury French attire, joined the crowd to watch the performance by Music, Dance, and Theatre (the characters actual names) played by Cara Ellison, Maddie Bryan, and Cameron Blackmun respectively.

They introduced themselves and the new building and performed a bit out in the lobby before the cast members who were in the crowd ushered us into the actual theatre.

Now when I was a student at Tech many years ago, I minored in theatre and spent a good amount of time in what was then the Black Box Theatre. This is not that. This new one is incredibly nice. The whole feel of the place was impressive and the stage itself was set up in the round with four sets of seats on each end of the stage. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show in the round before and it was definitely a different experience.

We all took our seats (including a number of seats in the balcony) and the show proper began. The story centers around Sganarelle and his efforts to cheer up his daughter Lucinde. Sganarelle, played by Justin McKean, gathers a number of people together to try and help him figure out what to do for Lucinde, played by Baylee Hale.

I want to take a minute to set the mood for what kind of play this is. When Hale comes on to the stage for the first time, she immediately lays face down on the floor and does this little whine thing. It might not sound like it, but it’s hilarious. The Sad Plank is a recurring joke (at least the night I saw it) and it never fails to get a laugh.

Speaking of which, the show might not be the same if or when you decide to go see it. In an interview with Texas Tech Public Media’s Clint Barrick, director Marks talked about how this play is really a reimagining of the original text by Molière. The full interview can be found by clicking the button on the right side of the page.

The play’s program includes a short note from the director about how the author intended for the play to be sort of updated and reworked whenever a new cast took it up. Marks says in the note that they basically took the bones of the play and used improv to really make it their own.

In fact, I’m not sure how much more I want to go into the story of the play because it really should, like Molière believed, be experienced and not read (or read about). But I will say that the performances were great all around, especially knowing that so much of it was improvised. There were a number of times where the actors asked the audience questions or otherwise interacted with us, and it was pretty cool.

Lisette, played by Hillary Boyd, was one of the best when it came to audience interaction. On the night I saw, there was a man on the front row of the seats directly across from me that she picked on quite a bit (I have since learned his name is Mitej Dongarkar and he loved the show) and she referred to him as “My Favorite Audience Member” on more than one occasion.

It was a whole lot of fun feeling like you’re in the show and not just watching it. I talked with my friend about it after and we agreed that the show was less of a performance and more of an experience. From the whole out-in-the-lobby beginning to the leeches that were fed to a few of us (it makes sense in context, promise), the experience was pretty unique.

A few characters I really don’t want to leave out are:

1. Barnaby the turtle played by Luke Weber (who plays the love interest Clitandre as well) who is just hilarious when the four doctors (Cara Ellison, Ryan Fay, Lydia McBee Reed, and Leah Johnson – all great) experiment on him. He has no lines as Barnaby, but he was a lot of fun.
2. Dr. Filerin played by Caleb Ranger Lowery who not only stole the show just saying Filerin over and over, but also rapped C.R.E.A.M. by Wu Tang.
3. The Justice of the Peace played by Jamal Hutcherson. His inability to say Lucinde’s name was just the best.
4. Aminte played by Malāna Wilson who is not only really funny, but also plays the harp and is just all around great.
5. Orviétan played by Steven Weatherbee who was slimey and mischievous and perfect as a salesman out to make a buck.

I would love to go on about the costume design by Cassandra Trautman or the lighting design by Dared Roberts and Darin Moody or the music by Casey Joiner, but instead I’ll just mention that it all came together to create an incredibly fun evening and one that I really hope people get out and experience for themselves. I wish had the opportunity to go see it again and see how it might change from night to night.

If you are a fan of absurdist comedy or are just in the mood for a really fun improvisational theatre experience, "Doctor Love" will be running this Thursday through Saturday at 7:30p.m. and on Sunday at 2:30 at the new Black Box Theatre in the Charles E. Maedgen Theatre building on Texas Tech University Campus. For more information visit theatre.ttu.edu.

For more Texas Tech Public Media arts coverage, you can listen to The Front Row on KTTZ-FM and check our TV schedule for the new season of 24 Frames.