There are a lot of wonderful and witty plays of the English Restoration floating around out there. I’ve read a sizable proportion and worked on quite a few, but plunging into Susanna Centlivre’s The Basset Table, I’ve delighted in an effervescent world of lively wit and vitality unique from those of her male counterparts.
First there is the game. Four sets of lovers play reckless games of intrigue as well as cards, gambling with their chances, staking their pride, hazarding their hearts, and revealing their secret desires for the chance to win it all. (And frankly, those of us who work in the theatre understand addiction to risk.)
Then, there is the remarkable strength of the women characters. Each is written to showcase individuality and depth. And they want it all: independence and love. From Lady Reveller’s joy in running her gaming house, to Lady Lucy’s politically-charged desire to reform, to the insouciant Mrs. Sago’s love of gambling, the women vie for what they want even when it’s against the wishes of their loved ones. And they are matched by a host of idiosyncratic men, who also must risk their hearts and pride and sense of self to capture the hearts and hands of their ladies.
And finally there is Centlivre’s language. The Restoration playwrights loved their prose. They reveled in an explosion of words shaped into sophisticated rhetoric. In The Bassett Table the text comes off the page with lively banter and a tautness unusual for the period.
As I’ve adapted the play into The Gaming Table, polishing and refining the already witty prose, the dust of the centuries has seemed to blow off the play. Playwright David Grimm has created a new prologue and epilogue, updating Centlivre’s period in-jokes while keeping her intent and sense of verse. In our collaboration, we have ventured to add an additional layer of luster to an already shining work and forge a play for today.
As a woman director working on a play from one of the few Restoration women playwrights, I have found inspiration through the centuries. Centlivre walks a tightrope, I believe, in creating a romantic comedy, while ensuring that the women are not simply ciphers of the men they marry, but independent thinkers in their own right who find love without compromising other ambitions.
—Eleanor Holdridge
