THEATER REVIEW : ‘The Mandrake’: A Playful Side to Machiavellian Wit

Most of us know Niccolo Machiavelli as the author of “The Prince,” the 16th-Century primer on realpolitik. Variously described as a work of genius or deviltry, the book may have been the first to equate statecraft with lies, manipulation and other dirty tricks.

What is less known is that Machiavelli, a true Renaissance man, was also a gifted playwright. In his 1518 farce “The Mandrake,” he cast his jaundiced eye toward the art of seduction and what did he find? Why, lies, manipulation and other dirty tricks.

If Machiavelli seemed ahead of his time, then “The Mandrake” now at West Coast Ensemble in Hollywood grooms him for the ages. This whimsical, visually stunning production is a winking commedia dell’arte for our cynical times.

The producers have advertised their choice of a translation by Wallace Shawn, the off-beat playwright and actor famous for his role as the tentative conversationalist in “My Dinner With Andre.” The text is very modern and colloquial, but Shawn cannot take all the credit for that. The actors have made it more so with inspired ad-libs and grade-A shtick.

Take Callimaco (David Kaufman), the ne’er-do-well who has, with the help of a potion made from mandrake root, launched a frenzied quest to sleep with the beautiful Lucrezia (Lisa Picotte). Kaufman, reminiscent of the late British TV comedian Benny Hill, can leer, mug and spout nonsense with the best of them. After he cuckolds Lucrezia’s husband, the foppish miser Nicia (Steve Einspahr), Kaufman leans back, takes a drag on a cigarette and does a decent Bogart imitation.

Director Jessica Kubzansky--who recently staged “Baby Dance” at American Renegade Theatre--consistently finds artful ways of marrying the contemporary and the classic. The stock characters may don the punchinello masks common to commedia, but they also impersonate fiery revival preachers or make cheeky references to Joan Crawford and “My Friend Flicka.”

The playfulness extends to the set and costume design as well. Kubzansky manipulates her ensemble on a large staircase platform that is constantly moved to suggest a large Florentine piazza. But designer James Ward Byrkit’s cleverest touch may be two rows of clear, water-filled pillars that glow and bubble whenever a character thinks or speaks of sex.

Costumer Scott Johnson, meanwhile, blends harlequin patterns and candy-colored Victorian waistcoasts, with the final result resembling “Alice in Wonderland” as re-imagined by Federico Fellini.

* “The Mandrake,” West Coast Ensemble, 6240 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends March 19. $15. (213) 871-1052. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.