Written in the early 1700s by Pierre Marivaux, "The Game of Love and Chance" tells the story of love and playful deceit gone awry. Dorante and Sylvia, two young members of the upper class, have been promised to each other by their parents. Now that the time has come for them to meet, Sylvia, wary of marriage, endeavors to switch places with her maid, Lisette, so to better gauge the character of her future husband.
As great minds think alike, Dorante decides to do the same with his uncouth valet, Harlequin. Meanwhile, Sylvia's father, Orgon, and brother, Mario, play games at the lovers' expense, knowing full well that each party is in disguise.
Clever and amusing dialogue, along with the flamboyance of the time, make the length of the script palatable. And, though the play is more than two hours long, Deep Dish's actors made the time pass quickly and pleasingly.
Betsy Henderson stole the show as Lisette, camping it up in her imitations of a noblewoman. Play-acting mistress Sylvia, Lisette's exaggerated poses, ostentatious attire and preposterous actions inspired unrestrained laughter from the audience. Henderson's charisma and innate humor dominated the other players each time she stepped onto the stage.
But the rest of the cast was not far behind. Katja Hill mastered Sylvia, both in her natural, noble character and her servile guise. Bantering and battling with her maid-turned-mistress, suitor-turned-valet and a valet presumptuously playing the lover, Hill's Sylvia balanced serious emotions and the occasional camp.
Her partner in concealment, Dorante, played by Michael Brocki, fought the battle between his true social stance and his love for a woman seemingly below his standing. Brocki changed moods like a whirlwind, at one moment offended, at another weak with love -- all the time completely believable, even in interactions with the ridiculous Harlequin, his valet.
