A trio of tales by classic authors entertains with taste and well within the context of today's mores in each tale's examination of foibles within matters of the heart. All three stories have endured the test of time, and each unfolds a compelling, updated study of classic conflicts between people. I was surprised to find Edgar Allan Poe's THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO in the mix, but let's say that this well-worn study of revenge claimed during a descent into the wine cellar from hell made a fitting nightcap for the collection.
The first tale, D. H. Lawrence's short story RAWDON'S ROOF, is a wistful examination of how a man's drive to feel independent ultimately deprives him of the love of his wife, his mistress, and the mistress's two daughters, whom he claims to love most. Jamie Askew as Janet, Rawdon's mistress whose spendthrift husband vanishes whenever debt collectors close in, imbues her character with dignity, patience, and grace as Rawdon trots out arguments for his rule about never allowing any woman to sleep under his roof. In the end, he gets to keep his roof, his way, and a sustained lifetime of regret. It is a love story without love, a paean to the wages of male selfishness and hollowness.
In Guy de Maupassant's A BEDTIME STORY, the stunning wife of a philandering husband cleverly conspires to lure him back into the marriage using every weapon in her considerable arsenal of beauty, wit, reason, negotiation, and seduction. While doing absolutely nothing wrong within the traditional bonds of wedlock, she seems primed to put the horns on him, turning each of his cynical choices back on him. On the surface, this is a French farce, but Hélène Cardona puts her character Margot through complicated changes and gyrations a wife must commandeer to seduce a husband to return. Hers is a challenging part, and despite the comic overtones, one understands that her husband's betrayal has wounded her deeply . It takes unimaginable life mastery to parlay such pain and disappointment into Margot's rapier of wits which keep her spouse off balance and sometimes off his feet. I was shaking my head in amazement and delight with her nimble performance. I wish more people could see Cardona at work. She is a formidable actress, and her character, well, I want to be that woman in my next life, if God is kind.
