No Holds Barred: Merriment is fast and furious in Scapino!

By: By Mary Martin Niepold | SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL
Published: February 20, 2009

Here's one you have got to see to believe. If ever a night of full-throttle fun hit a local stage, it's now inside a one-ring circus over at UNC School of the Arts. Scapino! is a rollicking, high-energy scamper where laughs and delight are guaranteed.

Set inside a European circus ring in Naples, Scapino! is a modern adaptation of Moliere's romantic comedy, Les Fouberies de Scapin (The Tricks of Scapin).

The adaptation, written by Frank Dunlop and Jim Dale, is a send-up of pranks and some very clever puns. "Liza in your Minnelli" is just one.

In this show, director Robert Francesconi, who has been at UNCSA for 30 years and is the school's assistant dean in the School of Drama, has invented a magical night in which red-nose clowns (the entire cast) are bobbing in and out of circus tricks, interacting with the audience, and delivering a very clever script. Red nose is a subtle technique of clowning, recalling the finesse of a Charlie Chaplin.

Throughout the show, actors are singing, dancing, swinging, falling, tumbling, cartwheeling, laughing, giggling, crying and hitting each other with planks, umbrellas or sausage sticks. If you loved the Donald O'Connor-Gene Kelly number, "Make 'Em Laugh," in the movie Singing in the Rain, then this show's for you. The cast also knows how to act and pace the action, critical in comedy.

The plot is simple enough (though very, very clever). Two young men have fallen in love, unbeknownst to their fathers, who want them to marry the women whom the fathers think best. And it is up to Scapino, the guardian of one of the two men, to trick the fathers into giving in or giving up.

Scapino is a rascal without peer. He's a con man, a rogue and a scamp, and he's so imaginative that one story or ruse follows another, and nobody -- including the audience -- can help but be beguiled by him. Spencer Trinwith takes on this demanding role with absolute charm and an endless number of accents; he is the star of the night and can mimic everyone from a Kung Fu master to Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront.

The entire cast is quite effective, including Casey Predovic as Ottavio; Ben Yannette as his guardian, Sylvestro; Brynne Morrice as his friend, Leandro; Farris Whitney as Giacinta, Ottavio's love; Amanda McDonald, as Zerbinetta, Leandro's love; Desmond Bing and Alan Tyson as the two fathers; and Ro Boddie as the bum.

Francesconi's imagination seems to know no bounds, either, and these fourth-year students are Olympic as they trot out so many skills in a very physical night.

Their own fun is infectious, even when props or audience members might throw a surprise their way.

• UNC School of the Arts will present Scapino! at 8 p.m. today and Saturday, and Feb. 25-27, and at 2 p.m. Sunday and Feb. 28 in Patrons Theatre, Performance Place, UNCSA campus, 1533 S. Main St. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and students. Call 336-721-1945.