Remy Bumppo Mixes a Cocktail of 1920s Fun, Fashion & Sly Comedy in Fallen Angels

In staging Noel Coward's 1920s comedy, Fallen Angels, director Shannon Cochran has shaken it up and mixed a cocktail of '20s fun and fashion with a wink of sly gender role reversal.

Remy Bumppo's new production runs almost two hours but the time will fly as you try to keep up with the antics of Julia (Emjoy Gavino) and Jane (Eliza Stoughton), two English housewives anticipating a reunion with Maurice (Joshua Moaney), the French charmer with whom they both had "very intimate relations" before marriage. (As an aside, I wish Maurice had appeared earlier in the story so I would have had more time to appreciate his suave fashion, language and footwork.)

Fallen Angels was considered scandalous when it was first produced. In the 1920s, women certainly would not have had extracurricular affairs, let alone talk about them. When Julia and Jane learn that Maurice will visit London to see both of them, they are giddy with anticipation. They put on their evening gowns and dancing shoes, chill the champagne and wait for Maurice. Unfortunately, while waiting they drink too much champagne, get tipsy, then frolic and finally fight in Julia's living room. From beginning to end, their activities are served by Saunders, the maid, played with straight-faced impudence by Annabel Armour. Saunders, it seems, has a great deal of experience in most every aspect of life and doesn't hesitate to explain how life should be managed.

picture: http://www.queenieaustralia.com/navy-blue-bridesmaid-dresses

The men in the story all have small roles. Julia's husband Willy (Jesse Dornan) and Jane's husband Fred (Fred Geyer) appear early in the first act and in the second act to express indignation upon their wives' activities. Maurice, of course, makes a brief but spectacular appearance near the end of the second act. Coward was definitely defying theatrical custom by creating two leading lady roles and relegating the male characters to minor players. The character of Saunders was...