Review: ‘The School for Wives’ at City Garage

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City Garage’s production of “The School for Wives” by Molière is an adroit and intelligently directed revival whose porcelain-like delicacy is cracked somewhat by performances that try too hard to be funny.

Arnolphe (Bo Roberts) is a middle-aged nobleman who desires nothing more than the perfect wife. He believes that such a lady can be trained and has embarked on an experiment to mold the young Agnes (Jessica Madison) into his ideal partner.

But his plans go awry when he discovers that Agnes is in love with Horace (Dave Mack), a handsome young suitor. Determined not to be cuckolded, Arnolphe hatches a plot to deceive Horace and turn the virginal Agnes against him.

The role of Arnolphe is an extremely difficult one, filled with complicated monologues and whiplash asides to the audiences. Roberts isn’t quite up to the task of making the character seem both charming and loathsome. The actor strains to find levity in his scenes but mostly ends up looking exhausted.

Frederíque Michel directs with a combination of dry wit and precision, though you wish she could have reined in some of the forced comedy. (Michel penned the adaptation with Charles Duncombe.) In the roles of Arnolphe’s dim-witted servants, Cynthia Mance and Ken Rudnicki work hard at slapstick with very little payoff.

By contrast, Mack and Madison in the roles of the young lovers seldom try to be funny and deliver some of the most endearingly comical moments of the evening.

-- David Ng

“The School for Wives,” City Garage, 1340 ½ 4th St. (alley), Santa Monica. 8 p.m. Saturdays; 5:30 p.m. Sundays. Ends May 31. $20. (310) 319-9939. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes.