‘Trelawny’ Recalls Victorian-Era Comedy

Entire screaming epochs can pass in America before a person encounters a play by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero.

Well, pass the epoch. A Noise Within has opened its new season with a gentle, rather tame but plushly cast revival of “Trelawny of the ‘Wells”’ (1898), in which Pinero paid tribute to the London repertory companies of his mid-Victorian youth.

The play sprang also from Pinero’s own experiences as a “general utility” actor, en route to his playwriting career. Pinero’s writing spanned the genres of farce, socially conscious dramas--”The Second Mrs. Tanqueray” most famously--and sentimental comedy. “Trelawny” belongs to the final category; the “Wells” of its title refers to Pinero’s boyhood favorite, the Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

It’s about an actress climbing the fiercely stratified ladder of society. Rose (Abby Craden) loves Arthur (Brian McGovern). Arthur’s highly starched father, Vice Chancellor Sir William (William Dennis Hunt) disapproves of his son’s choice of mate. No “gypsies” for this clan, thenk you veddy veddy much.

“Trelawny” also follows the theatrical fortunes of Tom Wrench (Stephen Rockwell), a minor actor with playwriting aspirations. He’s in love with Rose, but a royal good sport when it comes down to stage-managing a happy ending for the temporarily parted Rose and Arthur.

The play’s charm is not easy to uncork. Directors Julia Rodriguez Elliott and Geoff Elliott do well by it, without taking the production to a level of complete seduction. Still, it’s one of the stronger ensembles in recent Noise Within history.

Craden, always a pleasure, may rely a touch too much on that pouty, arch-comic delivery, but she’s developing into an ever more versatile player. Mitchell Edmonds, like several others here, does double duty, in this case as the aging character actor James Telfer, and as a sympathetic butler.

Jill Hill swans around most amusingly as Imogen Parrott; Hunt’s Sir William is a fine, cranky characterization, as is Sarah Zinsser’s landlady, Mrs. Mossop. The writing’s gentle appeal is captured nicely in the original musical score by Norman L. Berman, the best I’ve heard from him.

The Elliotts haven’t quite directed everyone into same theatrical universe, or rather, the same comically contrasting worlds.

But it’s fun anyway. And it’ll likely be another epoch or two before the next Pinero comes around.

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“Trelawny of the ‘Wells,”’ A Noise Within, 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Oct. 14, 2 and 7 p.m.; Oct. 19, 8 p.m.; Oct. 20, 2 and 8 p.m.; Nov. 7-8, 8 p.m.; Nov. 16, 8 p.m.; Nov. 17, 2 and 8 p.m.; Nov. 25, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Nov. 25. $22-$38. (818) 240-0910. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.

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Abby Craden: Rose Trelawny

Stephen Rockwell: Tom Wrench

Geoff Elliott: FerdinGadd

Mitchell Edmonds: James Telfer

James Otis: Augustus Colpoys

Hisa Takakuwa: Avonia Bunn

Deborah Strang: Mrs. Telfer

Jill Hill: Imogen Parrott

Kenneth R. Merckx Jr.: Mr. Denzil

Doris Gonzalez: Mrs. Mortimer

Phillip Estrada: Mr. Hunston

Tiffany Harris: Miss Brewster

Krystelle Ridenour: An Actor

Jill McDowell: Hallkeeper

William Dennis Hunt: Sir William Gower

Brian McGovern: Arthur Gower

Katherine Lamberton: Clara de Foenix

Marnie Crossen: Miss Trafalgar Gower

Sarah Zinsser: Mrs. Mossop

Darrell Sandeen:Mr. Ablett

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Written by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero. Directed by Julia Rodriguez Elliott and Geoff Elliott. Scenic design by Michael C. Smith. Costumes by Alex Jaeger. Lighting by James Taylor. Music by Norman L. Berman. Stage manager Tricia Druliner.