Stage Centre Productions has brought Camille, Neil Bartlett’s 2003 adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ La Dame aux Camélias, to Fairview Library Theatre. The play, which is deftly directed by Elaine O’Neal, is the gritty narrative of a prostitute who gives up her heart to an aristocratic young man in Paris, France during the mid-19th century.
“Camille” began as an autobiographical novel by Alexandre Dumas fils titled La dame aux camélias (The Lady of the Camellias). First published in 1948, the novel is a somewhat autobiographical account of the affair that young Dumas had with Marie Duplessis, a young Parisian courtesan (1824-47) with whom he became romantically involved while living on his famous father Alexandre Dumas pere‘s estate in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Much of what is known about Duplessis is mixed in with the later fictions, including the autobiographical Dumas novel. Adapted by Dumas for the stage, La dame aux camélias premiered at the Theatre de Vaudeville in Paris on February 2, 1852 to instant popularity. The tragic heroine of the story has since been immortalized in numerous stage and screen adaptations – most notably serving as the basis for Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata. There have also been numerous films and adaptations of both La Dame aux Camélias and La Traviata.
Although Duplessis died of tuberculosis shortly after her 23rd birthday, she remains a source of fascination. She was born Alphonsine Rose Plessis, a poor country girl in a violent household. But she worked her way into French society as a mistress to a series of wealthy and powerful men in Paris. Once there, she reinvented herself: teaching herself to become literate, polished, savvy and self-reliant. Six months after her affair with Dumas ended, Duplessis died. And just as Marguerite Gautier’s belongings are being publicly auctioned when the curtain lifts on Camille, Duplessis’ belongings garnered tremendous curiosity when they were auctioned after her death. Interest grew still greater when Dumas then published his account of their love affair, which was already widely known throughout societal circles.
In Dumas’ work, the unsophisticated young Armand Duval meets the courtesan Marguérite Gautier and falls in love. Though she has been the lover of countless more exotic men, he nevertheless manages to win her. The story recounts the consequences.
Bartlett has subtitled his play “After La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils” to make clear that this is not simply “a close translation of an existing playtext”. Bartlett takes the majority of the dialogue directly from Dumas’ novel, and the stage version is a frank, emotional portrayal of Dumas’ tragic love story. It brings to life the success and struggles of Marguérite Gautier: a courtesan so successful that she can afford just about anything . . . except falling in love. Selling herself to the Parisian elite, Marguérite has acquired all the trappings of wealth and status: luxury possessions, stylish clothes, and a refined sense of literature and music, not to mention social success. Her dress and demeanor exude a virginal elegance. Her signature camellia is inviolable. All of it, however, is a façade. And when Armand’s father lays out the consequences of this relationship not just for Armand, but for Armand’s young sister, Marguerite feels compelled to make a fateful and destructive decision.
With a stellar design team and talented cast, director O’Neal has developed a thought-provoking production of Camille. She adds a welcome feminist perspective to a story more typically told from a man’s point of view. Like a shrewd entrepreneur, Marguerite cashes in on the only asset which she possesses – her looks – and commodifies and markets them as her most lucrative (and the only possible) means to support herself and live independently. O’Neal strips the humour out of the story to provide an unsentimental, baldly practical view of Marguerite, the profession with which she supports herself, and the self-sacrifice she makes in accepting the love of a young man who cannot support her without his father’s permission.
Pierre Rajotte’s set is a sumptuous world of gilt chairs, chaises longues and swagged drapes that are emblematic of the double standard inhabited by women of the time. The rich colors, fixtures, trinkets and copious “stuff” conjure an air of opulence that, as the story progresses, underlines the hollowness of Marguerite’s life. Rajotte’s costumes are sumptuously detailed. The projections of the Paris skyline illuminated above the stage are atmospheric and fun, and John Palmieri’s sound design enhances the doom-filled mood of the story.
As Marguerite, Heather Goodall captures both the strength and vulnerability of Marguerite in her performance. Whether hurling an insult, knocking back champagne, or dismissing hangers-on so she can succumb to a coughing fit, Goodall is every inch a woman who has had to fend for herself for her entire life using only her looks and smarts. Likewise, Holm Bradwell depicts Armand Duval’s immaturity and wide-eyed naiveté so well that we give credence to his gullibility in believing that Marguerite has left him.
Rounding out the cast, Jamie Salloum portrays a caring Dr. Koreff, and Lindsay Woodford is a comically self-absorbed ‘Olympe’, the former protegée who has become the interchangeable “new Marguerite Gautier” at play’s end. As Gaston, Pierre Rajotte provides charming, dapper comic relief; and Christine Dick is Marguerite’s caring, loyal-to-the-end maid Nanine. Scott Griffin plays M Duval with a quiet menace, and Joseph van Veen is appropriately distasteful as the self-serving Baron de Varville. In the matinée performance we attended, understudy Marisa King gave a charismatic performance as the ever-present Prudence Duvernoy, who is Marguerite’s neighbor. A predatory milliner and seeming friend, she is ever at Marguerite’s side . . . so long as there are parties to attend and money to spend.
Stage Centre Productions’ staging of Bartlett’s script offers solid performances and plenty to contemplate about the limitations facing women then and now. On stage until April 1, 2023, it’s definitely worth the trip to North York to see it. Reserve tickets here.
© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2023
