Should women be both educated and married?

Though the answer seems quite obvious to most Palo Altans, Paly drama students will show, in a French neo-classic comedy called The Learned Ladies, how this was not always the case in past time periods.

The Learned Ladies, written by Moliere (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) and adapted by Freyda Thomas, will be performed early next month in the Haymarket Theater.

Set in a wealthy Frenchman’s home in an unspecified time period, the story consists of many disputes over marriage. Henriette (senior Sarah Ferguson) wants to marry Clitandre (freshman Alex Nee) who is considered unsuitable by her mother, Philamente (senior Sarah Young). Philamente instead wants her daughter to marry Trissotin(junior Elan Maier), a deceitful con artist who passes as a famous poet and soon becomes a permanent guest in their house. However, Philamente and her husband, Chrysale (senior Tim Goble) disagree about this decision and Chrysale has to learn how to stand up to his wife.

“Tim really does a good job and I find it easy to sympathize with him,” said senior Alex Tramiel, stage manager for the play. “He also changes throughout the play which is really interesting and funny to watch."

With this play’s unique qualities, the actors have to be innovative and adaptable for their parts. Unlike most plays, some of the parts have to be completely made up, according to the director and Paly theater teacher Kristen Lo. Also, the play will be performed in rhyming couplets. Because of this specific writing style, the actors are spending a lot of rehearsal time practicing their emphasis on certain words.

“This is a completely different kind of theater than standard theater,” said senior Danya Taymor, who plays Armande. “Having the play in verse makes memorizing lines a lot easier.”

In addition to the script, Lo and student director junior Rachel Wolf have been working with the actors on understanding their characters’ motivations, backgrounds, and blocking. They are currently working on how to convey the character in every moment they are on stage.

“I’m seeing stunning work from them already,” Lo said. “From auditions, I probably could have cast the play twice over.”

In contrast to previous plays performed at Paly, The Learned Ladies depends greatly on stock characters, which include witty servants, stubborn parents, beautiful daughters and braggart men. Because of this, Lo says developing these characters is one of the many things they need to work on.

“This play is awesome because it is a comedy therefore it pleases a lot of people.” Taymor said. “The plot is easy to follow and the text is fun, and the costumes will be awesome!”

Lo considers this a new play, as the script was recently reprinted after Thomas’s revision in 1991.

“I try to find plays that not every other high school does,” Lo said. “I wanted to work with verse again and this play also has a lot of young parts with characters that I believe my students and my audience can relate with.”

Tickets are $5 for students, $7 for adults, and free for staff.