STAGE REVIEW : A Splendid Escape With ‘Gentlemen’ at the Old Globe

It’s Le Cirque du Verona.

The Old Globe Theatre and director Laird Williamson have endowed Shakespeare’s creaky “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” with a design and spirit worthy of Le Cirque du Soleil, the troupe of Canadian conjurers.

Perhaps no one was thinking consciously of Le Cirque. And certainly there are differences between the two experiences. No one uses dry ice or other smoke effects here. Larry Delinger’s score is lush and romantic, but its beat is more light classical than tango.

We concentrate on Shakespeare’s words here, not on the latest acrobatic stunts. And those words demonstrate the frailties of the human heart rather than the majesty of the human body.

Still, from the moment when a band of masked, white-clad mimes enters the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre in Balboa Park and begins peering at us from behind spotlights flashed in our direction before aiming the same lights at the Shakespearean characters, we’re transported into a Cirque-like make-believe world of surpassing beauty. While these people may not do anything that’s all that magical, they inhabit a world that’s strictly from a storybook, with all the fascinating artifice that implies.

This is probably the best way to handle this play. If you try to make much sense of it in realistic, contemporary terms, you’ll founder.

It’s particularly notorious for a moment near the end where Valentine, one of the two “gentlemen,” discovers the other one, Proteus, attempting to rape his beloved Silvia. Valentine rescues the damsel and swears he’ll never trust Proteus again, but as soon as the scoundrel has uttered a few brief lines of apology, Valentine not only forgives but even offers him “all that was mine in Silvia.”

We have no time to ponder the implications of this bizarre exchange, for Proteus’ true love Julia, disguised as a boy, promptly swoons. With her identity unmasked, Julia helps Proteus forswear Silvia.

Williamson whisks us past this awkward moment before we’re aware of it. The alternative universe he has created is so appealing that we’re happy to go along for the ride, without asking questions.

Although the basic stage is nearly bare, every scene offers new, fanciful enhancements (sets by Richard Seger, lights by Peter Maradudin, costumes by Andrew V. Yelusich). Some of these are specifically related to the circus; note the hoop that Julia and Lucetta use as a swing, the cable that the men use to descend to the stage, the superbly colorful clowning by Speed (Tony Simotes) and Launce (Jeffrey Allan Chandler).

Umbrellas and fans, in many colors and sizes, reappear throughout the evening. Wispy carpets are furled and unfurled. Even as insignificant a character as Panthino becomes memorable because of the long-tailed, top-hatted outfit Yelusich has devised; golden-throated Richard Easton plays two roles with no confusion, thanks partially to the giant potbelly that distinguishes his first character.

Furthermore, Williamson’s casting of the lovers helps steer us away from any unpleasant questions about sexual politics. Mark Moses’ Proteus has the apple-cheeked look of a kid whose juvenile impulses lead him astray--not a truly bad guy. Steven Flynn’s Valentine has a bleached-blond look and a rather thin voice, as if he might have been surfing earlier in the day; one doesn’t expect him to be a fountain of wisdom.

As Silvia, swan-like Marcia Cross looks so dazzling from beginning to end that it’s easy to see why the boys go ga-ga. Seldom has an actress resembled the archetypal princess like Cross does here. Her first appearance, floating across the stage in an elegant yellow summer dress under a massive white hat, accompanied by a staff attending to her every whim, is one for the books. But she isn’t an ice princess; even in that initial scene, a mischievous gleam adorns her eye as she exits.

Thoughts that the play doesn’t measure up to modern ideas of womanhood are undermined by Silvia’s later displays of strength and magnanimity and by the resourcefulness of Julia. Still, Susannah Hoffmann’s Julia has a quivering charm that’s girlish when compared with Silvia--a comparison we can assume Proteus made.

“Verona” isn’t a great play. But Williamson makes it an enchanting experience, a splendiferous escape for a midsummer evening.

“The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, Simon Edison Centre, Balboa Park, San Diego. Tuesdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Aug. 9. $26-$30. (619) 239-2255. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Steven Flynn: Valentine

Mark Moses: Proteus

Tony Simotes: Speed

Susannah Hoffmann: Julia

Katherine McGrath: Lucetta

Richard Easton: Antonio/Duke of Milan

Philip Charles: Sneed Panthino/Eglamour

Jeffrey Allan: Chandler Launce

Marcia Cross: Silvia

Jonathan McMurtry: Thurio

Demetrio Cuzzocrea, David Huber, Steven Zubkoff: Outlaws

Joanne Zipay: Ursula

Augie: Crab

An Old Globe Theatre production. By William Shakespeare. Directed by Laird Williamson. Sets Richard Seger. Costumes Andrew V. Yelusich. Lights Peter Maradudin. Composer Larry Delinger. Sound Jeff Ladman. Stage manager Peter Van Dyke.