Stendhal Review by Carin Badger, L.A. Review, November 18-December 1, 1988

Upon discovering that the play you are about to see has (gulp) twenty-three scenes, your first reaction might be "Uh-oh, another choppy play . . . . a cobb salad on stage . . . I want OUT!" But then the play begins: the dialog is funny, the characters interesting, the staging and sets imaginative and crisp. "Hey, wait a minute! Is it intermission time already?"

Such was my experience at the Colony Studio Theatre’s production of Stendhal, and a wonderful experience it was. The title is a bit misleading though, as the story is not really about the writer Stendhal, but about Antoine Berthet, as Stendhal tells Berthet’s story to his friend Mme. Gaulthier on the eve of Berthet’s trial. In the story leading up to this trial, we see Berthet as a boy distressed by Napoleon’s fall and unhappily working on his father’s farm. He is encouraged to join the seminary, and does so, only to be later sent to the home of the Michoud family as the tutor for their children. There, Berthet finds himself tutored in the wonders of love by Mme. 

Michoud who unintentionally betrays him with evidence of his staunch allegiance to Napoleon.

Up to this point, the delicately tuned and timed humor works beautifully, setting a very specific tone to the production. After his betrayal, however, the tone becomes inconsistent; we expect humor to soften the serious edge, but it never comes. Still, this production is presented with the utmost skill by director Randal Hoey and his committed cast. Of particular note are Kent Stoddard as the young Berthet, Lindy Nisbet as the giddy Mme. Michoud, Don Woodruff as an Abbe of questionable intent, and Ruth Crawford as the sensitive, sultry Mme. Gaulthier.
 

Stendhal at the Colony Theatre