Winter arrived early at the Zellerbach Playhouse as UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies (TDPS), just completed their run of “Wintertime” from Nov. 16 to Nov. 19.
Written by Charles L. Mee, “Wintertime” utilizes farce and surrealism to examine how love and desire fuel the erratic nature of interpersonal relationships. In combining comedy and drama, the show intricately crafts a story filled with laughter and seat-gripping moments alike.
The play follows Jonathan and Ariel, a young couple visiting Jonathan’s family vacation home right before New Year’s. Jonathan hopes to propose while there, but his plans are thwarted when his mother, Maria, introduces her affair partner, Francois, stating her intention to use the house. Moments later, Maria’s husband Frank walks through the door with his affair partner, Edmond, parroting a wish to use the house for some alone time as well.
Both Maria and Frank are aware of each other’s lovers, but choose to stay married because they love each other. Everyone is seemingly fine with this arrangement — except, under the surface, no one is actually fine with it; it’s the impetus for turmoil between lovers and family when brought together. Blurring the lines of fidelity, this plot highlights the question: What is love, and how does it shape our relationships?
The set consisted of a beautiful blue and white home — this interior constructed in the shape of a rhombus — with the two back sides making up the house walls and the front sides acting as a small barrier between the house and the audience. A small wall approximately half a foot high created that barrier, and it was topped with small spheres that lit up a soft cyan. While the home space was visually stunning and encapsulated the vibe of a vacation home, the wall between the audience and the performers was slightly distracting. It can be assumed that the intention was to evoke the feeling that the viewer is on the outside looking in, but it instead called attention to the fourth wall, deterring immersion into the show.
All the lighting cues, however, made up for the closed-off nature of the set. In addition to the lit-up spheres on the front wall, ball-shaped lights were hung from the top of the stage which not only mimicked clouds or large falling snowflakes but also creatively filled up the empty space above the house. Each cue was timed expertly and matched the mood of whichever comedic or dramatic scene was being played out.
One of the most compelling performances was delivered by Francois, played by Ariel Anderson, a lustful Frenchman who often gets into trouble with his constant overanalyzing. Beyond stellar line delivery, Anderson perfectly captured the character’s matter-of-fact nature, leaning into the absurdity of the character’s motivations. He also impressively executed the French accent with ease, which allowed each of his jokes to land with the audience. Had there been a traditional curtain call at the end, much applause would have been awarded to him.
Ariel, played by Leila DeMoss, and Jonathan, played by Tomás François, skillfully captured the explosive nature of their characters. They accurately embodied a couple refusing to communicate — making the faults that ground a relationship feel tangible — which pulled the show together and made for a compelling watch.
Overall the performances were very strong, but there was a recurring issue with letting jokes play out. None of the actors had microphones, which meant projection was key to asserting one’s dialogue across the auditorium. When a joke was made, actors would not stop speaking to allow the audience to laugh. This meant laughter overpowered the voices of the actors — no matter how loud they tried to be — and thus many lines were lost and unable to be heard.
Other than that, the show created a simultaneously joyful and dramatic atmosphere that ended with an impressive standing ovation. Offering a compelling reflection of what love is and can be, Berkeley TDPS’ “Wintertime” was as dazzling as gazing up at falling snowflakes.
