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The Learned Ladies
February 26-March 7 at Seabury Hall Performance Studio, Makawao, $5-$11

by Sierra Brown

February 25, 2010

Les Femmes Savantes sounds seductive in French, yet translates to a prim and proper enough English title—The Learned Ladies. This domestic comedy predates the Brady Bunch and Everybody Loves Raymond by about 400 years, but features themes and characters that are still close-to-home: pretentious poets, an overbearing mother-in-law, a whipped husband. The original French text is set at the beginning of the French women’s liberation movement; the modern English translation by Freyda Thomas is takes place in the 1950s, while preserving the original rhyming couplets and overall lyrical tone. In the Seabury production, the learned ladies are played by Tatiana Bradley, Ariella Brandon and Megan Kirton, who are infatuated with a couple of well-versed con-men (Miles Kelsey and Drew Streb). This grinds the wedding plans of Henriette (Scarlett Engle) and Clitandre (Hayden Ezzy) to a halt, to the frustration of their men, (Clyde Engle and Kai Spence) aided by Makena Wright and Gregory Gagliardi. The play is directed by Todd VanAmburgh, and costumes are designed by Marsha Kelly. 573-1257.