The Girl in the Iron Mask

Even more than flagrant modernizations, cast-based adaptations are tough—especially with classics. The train of thought is that the gender-, age- or race-bending will breathe new insight into the work. This can happen: Last year’s Moby-Dick at the Building Stage, in which characters were portrayed by a rotating collective of actors, was wonderfully inventive while still staying true to Melville’s tone. Often, though, the exercise can be fruitless, an experiment on the cheap.

It’s hard to blame Babes With Blades for attempting to spin Dumas’s The Man in the Iron Mask. The company’s goal—to “expand opportunities for women in the world of stage combat”—is surely a worthy one. And given the amount of swordplay here (which is well choreographed by Brenda E. Kelly), the group certainly lives up to its credo: This all-female cast erupts into impressive scenes of violence (although to brand such rugged outbursts feminist is complete nonsense).

But Girl has problems, simply put, because it’s disengaging. With certain inflections, Nesvet’s script can be interpreted as jokey by the actors, which is usually the case. Playing both of the twins separated at birth, Alison Dornheggen at one point bobs on a bed awaiting a visit from a crush; she might as well have raised her eyebrows twice to the audience and winked. Oh-golly moments like these make the final tragedy dull and long-winded. We’re looking forward to what this unique company takes a stab at next, but it’ll have to be more meaty than this.—Tim Lowery