Paulanne Simmons
"Beau Brummell" Has Substance and Style
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| Ian Kelly (left) and Ryan Early (right) in "Beau Brummell." Photo by Simon Alexander. |
"Beau Brummell"
Directed by Simon Green
Brits Off Broadway Festival
59E59 Theaters
59 East 59th St.
Opened May 9, 2006
Tues., Thurs. & Fri. 8:15 p.m., Sat. 2:15 p.m., Sun 7:15 p.m.
$35 (212) 279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com
Closes June 11, 2006
Reviewed by Paulanne Simmons May 25, 2006
"What is the point of existence if it is not to be seen?" asks Ian Kelly, who plays the legendary arbiter of fashion in Ron Hutchinson's "Beau Brummell," part of the Brits Off Broadway festival at 59E59 Theaters. The rhetorical question can be seen as the epitome of frivolous narcissism, characteristic of the man. But Brummel also notes that "The desire to serve disguises a lust to rule." And who can deny the validity and of such a pithy statement?
"Beau Brummell" is happily filled with such contradictions.
The play begins, ironically, with the famous dandy stark naked, stripped of everything that defines him, in his bathtub threatening to kill himself. Brummel is dissuaded from committing the nasty deed by his faithful but fickle valet, Austin (the excellent Ryan Early).
The former favorite of the Prince of Wales is in dire straits. He has fallen from grace, thanks to gambling debts and an inability to keep his mouth shut, and is living in a Calais mental institution tended by the Sisters of Mercy and his valet. Like the much-abused Sancho Panza, Austin tends to his master's needs (in this case dressing him in his elegant but worn-out clothing), offers advice, and constantly threatens to leave. Not lest among Austin's reasons for defection is Brummell's inability to pay his wages.
Brummell is an arrogant but pitiful creature. He eagerly awaits the arrival of the prince regent, who, of course, never notices the banished Brummell. He converses with imagined royalty. He insists on his great accomplishments, which include eschewing wigs and determining the perfect length of a man's sleeve, but reached their height in his discovery of the proper way to tie a cravat.
It may seem that Brummell's life, under the microscope of history, was not particularly earth-shattering. But Kelly, guided by Simon Green's sensitive direction, turns the play about the debouched dandy into a moving testimony to friendship, pride and endurance.
The final (or perhaps first) irony in "Beau Brummell" is that playwright Hutchinson and actor Kelly had, unbeknownst to each other, both written about Brummell. When Kelly, who wrote the biography, "Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Man of Style," heard about Hutchinson's play, he approached the playwright and agreed to share information.
The result is a blending of scholarship and theater that
is entertaining and enlightening in the best sense of both words. Even
those whose interest in fashion is limited to what color T-shirt to wear
with their jeans will find "Beau Brummell" fascinating.
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