JEEVES & WOOSTER IN PERFECT NONSENSE
***** (out of five)
Court House Theatre, 1 hour, 55 minutes, one intermission. Ends Oct. 10. A play from the works of P.G. Wodehouse. By Robert Goodale and David Goodale. Directed by Brendan McMurtry-Howlett.
As I lay in my bath, soaping a meditative foot and exercising the old cerebellum to write this review, I stopped. One simply cannot emulate the gifts of the greatest prose writer of the 20th century, P.G. Wodehouse. Best simply to quote Wodehouse in the voice of his Bertie Wooster character as he ponders the craft of writing in “Right Ho, Jeeves”:
“I don’t know if you have had the same experience, but the snag I always come up against when I’m telling a story is this dashed difficult problem of where to begin it. It’s a thing you don’t want to go wrong over, because one false step and you’re sunk. I mean, if you fool about too long at the start, trying to establish atmosphere, as they call it, and all that sort of rot, you fail to grip and the customers walk out on you.
“Get off the mark, on the other hand, like a scalded cat, and your public is at a loss. It simply raises its eyebrows, and can’t make out what you’re talking about.”
There is no chance of that with this superb production and Canadian premiere of “Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense,” written by the Goodale brothers and adapted primarily from Wodehouse’s “The Code of the Woosters.”
Damien Atkins as Jeeves, Jeff Irving as Bertie Wooster and Travis Seetoo as Seppings are pure delight. The non-stop action, multiple character switches, brilliant language, unexpected plot dynamics and changing sets and costumes are performed with great elan and sheer ingenuity.
Bertie Wooster is an idle, wealthy, upper-class scatterbrain who means well but is always getting into predicaments and scrapes. All solutions depend on his intelligent, knowledgeable and tactful valet, the gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves.
Wooster’s Aunt Dahlia orders him to steal a silver cow-creamer coveted by her silver collecting husband, Tom Travers. If cheerful, Tom will likely give her the money to underwrite her magazine “Milady’s Boudoir.” Bertie resists as the cow-creamer is now in the possession of an arch-rival collector, Sir Watkyn Bassett, CBE.
As Wooster appeared before the formidable Magistrate Bassett after a night in jail for pinching a policeman’s helmet, he has no desire to be hovering about Bassett’s lair, Totleigh Towers. Also present will be Roderick Spode, the terrifying seven-foot-tall, fascist leader of the Black Shorts who already suspects Wooster as a thief.
Bassett’s loopy daughter, Madeline, is engaged to Wooster’s pal, the reclusive Gussie Fink-Nottle, whose obsession is the love life of newts at full moon. Bassett disapproves. Gussie writes harsh critical comments of Bassett in a brown notebook — which he loses. If found, end of engagement.
Enter Bassett’s niece, Stephanie “Stiffy” Byng with attack dog Bartholomew. She needs her uncle’s permission to marry the local curate and Wooster chum, Harold “Stinker” Pinker. Bassett again disapproves. Mayhem ensues.
Kudos for the sets and costumes designed by Sim Suzer, lighting designed by Kaileigh Krysztofiak, sound by Olivia Wheeler and movement direction by Matt Alfano. We were gifted with laughter, anticipation and Wodehouse magic, plus some terrific Gene-Kelly-inspired dancing. Anchors away, don’t miss this joyful cruise.
Penny-Lynn Cookson is an arts and culture historian, writer and lecturer living in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
