Tackling farce, full speed ahead

Annette Miller takes her comedy roles seriously

Annette Miller plays a pompous mother-in-law in "The Ladies Man." (Kevin Sprague)

Annette Miller is taking a dramatic approach to farce.

"You have to play farce extremely earnestly or it falls apart," says Miller, who is best known for her dramatic turns as the larger-than-life figures Diana Vreeland in "Full Gallop," Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in "Golda's Balcony," and Martha Mitchell, wife of Attorney General John Mitchell, in "Martha Mitchell Calling."

But her latest role is a figure of fun in "The Ladies Man," which opens this week at Shakespeare & Company's Founders' Theatre.

"I do think my character in 'The Ladies Man' is also larger than life," she says by phone during a rehearsal break. "I'm a bastion of morality who gets caught in some compromising positions when I'm trying to prove to my daughter that her husband is a ladies' man."

"The Ladies Man" is Charles Morey's adaptation of two French farces by Georges Feydeau, "Ladies' Dressmaker" and "A Flea in Her Ear." It works several stock characters into its plot of misunderstandings and mistaken identities, including a virginal bride, a doctor, a trollop, a patient, and Miller's pompous mother-in-law, described by director Kevin Coleman as "the Margaret Dumont character from all the Marx Brothers movies. She's the butt of all the jokes."

"They make fun of me," says Miller in mock horror. "I play Madame Aigreville, as in aggravate. When I read the script, with all the slamming doors, double entendres, and all these ridiculous French accents, I laughed out loud. It's zany, and then Kevin adds his own bit of mischief with music and costume pieces and a dizzying pace that builds the comedy to a crescendo."

Although the award-winning actress has a long and illustrious list of credits, she hasn't done much comedy at Shakespeare & Company. "Hmm, let's see," she says. "Since I've been out here I've played a woman who was blind and dying of cancer [in Laura Harrington's 'Mercy'], Diana Vreeland in 'Full Gallop,' tragic Queen Margaret in 'Richard III,' Zenobia in 'Ethan Frome,' Golda, and Martha. No comedies there. I did get some laughs playing Maria in 'Twelfth Night,' but I haven't played farce in years."

Coleman says he cast Miller specifically because "she has that serious surface demeanor. Annette is able to play the role with her head held high, even as chaos reigns all around her."

Miller grew accustomed to taking the stage and staying there in "Full Gallop," "Golda's Balcony" (both one-woman shows), and "Martha Mitchell Calling." But sharing the stage has also been a welcome change, she says.

"It's fun to stand back a bit and watch everyone running in and out," says Miller. "But of course," she says, slipping into her French accent, "Madame has her moments in the spotlight. Just wait till you see my chapeau. I have this fantastic entrance where I'm referred to as Medusa and my hat, oh la la, it looks like snakes are coming out of it."

Miller says it feels good to stretch her comic muscles and be a little outrageous. "I am slipping oui and non into everything I say now," she says. "Don't ask me how I'm going to get back to Martha's Southern drawl in time for the Nora Theatre's production of 'Martha Mitchell Calling' in the fall. But don't worry, I will."

Through Aug. 31. Tickets: $10-$57. 413-637-1199, shakespeare.org.

Shakespeare bounty

Obie Award winners Marin Ireland ("Mauritius") and Fred Weller will star as Rosalind and Orlando in "As You Like It," the Citi Performing Arts Center's Free Shakespeare on the Common production this summer. The cast also includes Larry Coen and Fred Sullivan Jr. (both of whom appeared in last summer's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"). The production will be directed by Commonwealth Shakespeare Company artistic director Steven Maler and will run July 18-Aug. 3 on Boston Common and Aug. 8-10 at Forest Park in Springfield. Information: 617-482-9393, citicenter.org. Meanwhile, novelist Anita Diamant and actress Jennifer Dundas will appear at the Stuart Street Playhouse Monday night at 7:30 as part of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's new Salon series. Diamant and Dundas will discuss the mysteries and contradictions in "The Taming of the Shrew," in which Dundas starred two summers ago on the Common. Admission is free, although donations are accepted. Information: 617-426-0863.

Notes

SpeakEasy Stage Company is extending its hit production of "The History Boys" through June 22 at the Boston Center for the Arts' Roberts Studio Theatre. Tickets: $25-$54. 617-933-8600, bostontheatrescene.com. . . . The New Provincetown Players will present its Spring Playwrights' Festival, tonight-June 15 at the Provincetown Theater, Provincetown. During the first weekend, six short plays will be presented in 60 minutes. Chosen from 135 submissions, the plays include works by playwrights from across the country as well as Boston-based George Sauer, whose "Small Window" explores the unraveling of a culinary scam. The second two weekends will include the staging and discussion of Cape Cod-based Wendy Kesselman's play "The Notebook." Kesselman is best known for her stage adaptation of "The Diary of Anne Frank." Tickets: $18. 508-487-7487, NewProvincetownPlayers.org.