Noel Coward’s “The Better Half” Plus “Grand Guignol”

At first blush, or scream, pairing a sophisticated Noel Coward comedy with a horror play that takes place in an insane asylum may seem odd, and it is. However, after reading the circuitous path of “The Better Half” to reach a San Francisco audience, the pairing seems sensible . . . really.

Thrillpeddlers is a San Francisco-based theatre company specializing in horror plays, fetish performance and cross gender productions in the 'Grand Guignol' mold at the Hypnodrome Theatre under a confluence of freeways in central San Francisco. As defined by on-line Wikipedia, “. . . the term 'Grand Guignol' (pronounced Grahn Geen-yol') refers to any dramatic entertainment that deals with macabre subject matter and features “over-the-top” graphic violence.” Coward’s play first saw the light of day in the dark confines of London’s Grand Guignol as a change-of-pace interlude thus giving the audience a breather between the horror plays.

This mounting of “The Better Half” is its American premiere, and the only production since it first appeared in 1922. Noel Coward aficionados apparently have flocked to Hypnodrome leading to a two-weekend extension. Sadly, May 31 was the last of the run. I predict other venues will add it to their schedules.

“The Better Half” is a one-act 35-minute play with characters you will recognize in other of Coward’s plays. They belong to the privileged English upper social structure imbued with style and sophistication. Marion and David are married and Alice is their best friend. Marion confronts Alice who confesses she loves David. Surprise, surprise Marion encourages the relationship advising Alice that David only loves himself. In early dialog, the girls discuss another couple who have separated after the husband soundly beat the wife for having a lover. Marion, unlike Alice, is hardly appalled. When Marion confesses to David that she is having an affair, non-plused David, with stiff upper-lip, is willing to accept. Marion recoils suggesting that if he really loved her, “A thrashing would be better for me.”, and “I’d go away – to India, of course!”

The then 22-year-old Coward gives us a glimpse of his urban wit and cutting dialog couched in humor. In most of Coward’s plays, the women are given the most delicious lines and the men are sounding boards, and so it is in this play with occasional exaggerated lines, “Have your cake and lie in it –or something like that.” Alternatively, “Follow one’s instinct rather than think about it.” In addition “decorate the Christmas tree with ornaments made by the servants.” Alison Sacha Ross (Marion) handles Coward’s lines with grace and expert timing and Jonathan Ingbretson’s (David) rigid performance is a gem. Alice Louise (Alice) handles her underwritten part competently.

The Thrillpeddlers have been in existence for the past 10 years and have a dedicated following. To discover all you ever want to know about their venue and Grand Guignol go to http://www.grandguignol.com/.