Love, Politics Throne Together : ‘Elizabeth’ Grapples With Rejection and Deceit--in Public and Private

On stage at the Little Theatre on the UC Irvine campus, a titillating mix of images dresses the set for the current production of “Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman.”

A large, free-hanging Tudor casement window opposite a stone-looking fireplace describes the bedroom of the Queen of England, Elizabeth Regina. The ceiling has an ornate skylight reminiscent of a prison grate, only, of course, much nicer. Surrounding this room, with its curtained alcove for sleeping and its spare wooden furnishings, are identical cutouts of a mutton-sleeved gown with an enormous ruff, pointed waist and fat, farthingale skirt that Elizabeth wore in one of her more famous portraits. The cutouts ring the set as if hanging on the dry-cleaner’s rack. Each has a picture frame attached to the top where Her Majesty’s head would be were she wearing the dress.

In Dario Fo’s clever and contemporary-sounding farce, Elizabeth is a woman acutely aware of her public role and in desperate rebellion against it. She is a modern tyrant who can out-cuss and outthink her estimable advisers, yet she suffers women’s age-old curse of being in love with a no-good man. The Earl of Essex, her beloved Robert, is organizing an uprising against her, and all she can think about is how to rejuvenate her skin and enlarge her breasts.

Her maidservant, Martha, fetches Dame Grosslady, a tawdry Renaissance cosmetician who has surprising and hilarious cures to offer Her Majesty, or “Maj,” as Dame Grosslady likes to call her. Amid intermittent updates about the rebellion from her Chief of Intelligence, Egerton, Elizabeth endures pain and humiliation at the hands of Grosslady, as well as the Dame’s streetwise assessment of Queenie’s unhappy romantic and political fix.

Director Mimi McGurl’s staging of the play is adroit and focused. The first act, especially, is fluid and very funny, and her casting is exemplary. As Elizabeth, Lynn Watson gives a performance that is good by any standard, but extraordinary for a university student. She carries the Queen’s much-bemoaned age very convincingly, commanding the stage with her long, expressive arms, piercing, owlish eyes and ringing voice. Greg Krosnes gives a shamelessly broad and funny performance as Dame Grosslady, mincing around in drag and lisping an endless stream of eclectic wisdom in a half-English, half-Italian jargon that is as challenging for the audience as it must be for the performer. The rest of the principals--Rebecca Clark, Brian Evans, John McCabe and Sean O’Neil--acquit themselves honorably in less extravagant roles.

The stylish set by Larry Sousa, the painterly lighting by Chris Lee and the richly textured costumes by Michael Tereschuk contribute to the fine look and feel of this contemporary Renaissance, where paranoid politics and obsessive love are bedfellows, and even Shakespeare is implicated in the plot to assassinate the Queen. The diversity of the actors’ accents is puzzling, and the second act, which falls short of the first, fails to illuminate the larger issues of the play, but Elizabeth is electrifying listening and a goodly feast of fun. (Note: get to the campus early to see the show because you’ll need time to find the Little Theatre, which is in the Humanities complex. Its location is as well-kept a secret as the sex life of the Virgin Queen.)

‘ELIZABETH, ALMOST, BY CHANCE A WOMAN’

A UC Irvine Drama Department production of Dario Fo’s play. Translated by Ron Jenkins and Gillian Hannah. Directed by Mimi McGurl. With Lynn Watson, Rebecca Clark, Brain Evans, Gustavo Lopez, Aaron Shorr, Greg Krosnes, John McCabe, and Sean O’Neil. Scenic Designer: Larry Sousa. Costumes: Michael Tereschuk. Lighting: Chris Lee. Original Music by David Lyon. Plays today at 2 and 8 p.m. at UC Irvine’s Fine Arts Little Theatre. Tickets: $5 to $7. (714) 856-5000.