KINGSTON, R.I. – Oct. 6, 2023 – You know Marie Antoinette, right? Queen of France at age 14. Party girl. Fashion crazy. Had a “let them eat cake” attitude (even if she never said that famous phrase). Lost her head in the French Revolution.
But is there more to the story?
The University of Rhode Island Theatre Department thinks there is as it opens its 2023-24 season with David Adjmi’s “Marie Antoinette,” a contemporary look at the doomed queen that is full of fashion, fun and revolution. The play opens Thursday, Oct. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in J Studio in the Fine Arts Center, 105 Upper College Road.
“It’s a really deep story that people need to see,” says sophomore Abraphine Ngafaih, who plays Marie Antoinette. “I feel you’ll come out learning so much more, especially if you had a previous image of Marie. Act like you’ve never met this woman before. Be open to meeting Marie.”
“Marie Antoinette,” which debuted in 2012 at the Yale Repertory Theater, follows the downfall of Marie and her monarchical mates, including husband Louis XVI, from 1776 to 1793. As they fiddle and gamble and conspicuously consume, the sparks of revolution slowly turn from embers to a full blaze, consuming the monarchy and beheading the bunch. Through much of the play, Marie is too clueless, self-involved, and just having too good of a time to fully understand the discontent—until the cage the Butterfly queen is trapped in springs closed.
“It’s really funny,” says director Rachel Walshe, URI professor of acting and directing. “I think the journey of the play is that it’s really fun until suddenly it’s really not. And I think the joy of that is laughing yourself silly until your head falls off. That’s sort of what happens to Marie. They entertain themselves to death.”
“I find it very fascinating how the story progresses and you don’t see how serious things are until it’s too late,” says senior Josh Winderman, who plays Louis XVI. “When that realization happens, it’s a shock. In some ways you can relate that to real life. You can always be hit by a curveball when you’re not expecting.”
Walshe recommended the play for this season and has had a long history with it. She worked with the playwright and director on the play when it was in development at Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and she directed it in 2017 at the Gamm Theatre, where she is currently associate artistic director.
She says she’s always wanted to stage it at URI because it’s a great student play. For the most part, the characters are also young and, while the play covers a historical period, it’s presented with a modern take. “In some ways the play is about an 18th century queen,” she says. “But I think the play has more to say about contemporary American celebrity culture than necessarily just history.”
In its costumes and music, along with the dialogue, the play is very modern. Early in the play, before the revolution takes hold, the costumes resemble 1980s extravagance. They invoke Madonna more than Marie – especially in Marie’s “ROI TOY” dress that somewhat mimics Madonna’s “Boy Toy” gown of the ‘80s. (Roi is French for King.)
“When I think about the most iconic American celebrities, Madonna’s one of them for sure,” she says. “She was very heterodox in how she approached fashion. Her clothing was very much about being audacious and challenging people’s ideas about piety. Her name was Madonna, right. And yet she was very sexualized and intentionally used that as part of her image. And that is a lot of what Marie is like.”
To prepare for their roles as king and queen of France, Winderman and Ngafaih digested a lot of history on the period, along with doing their own research and closely studying their interactions with other characters. “Before we even did our first read-through, I was binging documentaries on the time period, on Marie’s backstory, all the quirky things about her,” says Ngafaih.
Winderman has found Louis XVI an interesting character, nothing you would expect in a king. “I find him very childlike in a way. He had an obsession with clocks,” says Winderman. “His relationship with Maire I found fascinating. You find out very early that it’s not a romantic relationship. But they’re very much in love.”
Ngafaih sees a bit of herself in Marie—funny, over the top when warranted, a bit of spendthrift who repeatedly vows to change her ways. She says Marie goes from bubbly and upbeat to seeing the things she has feared become reality. “You see her mask fall. She becomes this raw human being of emotion. But even though she wants to plead, she still holds her own. At the end of the play, she even sticks it to them. She says you thought you could kill me but now I’ve become the stuff of history.”
Why does that history still fascinate us?
“I think we can identify with the seduction of excess,” Walshe says. “One of the ways Marie was known for her excesses was through her clothing and her hair. I think anybody can relate to that, whether you do it personally or not. So, I think her story of being the most beloved, fashionable apex of celebrity who then meets a very bitter end is fascinating.”
“I think it’s the same way we see celebrities now,” says Ngafaih. “No matter what they do, we’re fascinated with what’s happening in their lives. It’s also a fascination with history. They took a king and queen, an entire monarchy, who felt they had a divine right to rule and cut it by its head. Literally.”
“Marie Antoinette” runs Oct. 12-14 and 19-21 at 7:30 p.m. and on Oct. 15 and 22 at 2 p.m. in J Studio at the Fine Arts Center, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston Campus. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $15 for senior citizens and URI students, faculty and staff. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling (401) 874-5843. For more information on tickets and the University’s masking policy, go to the ticket website.
Pardon our appearance: With the Fine Arts Center undergoing construction, patrons must use the theater entrance in the back of the building, accessed from the parking lot on Bills Road. Look for the marked entrance to the right of the fenced off construction area and follow the ramp.
“Marie Antoinette” cast
Character, actor, hometown
Axel Fersen, Isaiah Agabi, Warwick
Revolutionary ensemble, Jake DeShiro, Norwood, Massachusetts
The Dauphin, Savannah Estremera, Providence
Joseph, Terrance Fry, Providence
Royalist, Ella Kenny, Los Angeles
Mr. Sauce, Iggy Makor, Pawtucket
Marie Antoinette, Abraphine Ngafaih, Pawtucket
Therese De Lamballe, Ayrin Ramirez Peguero, Providence
The Sheep, David Santana, Providence
Yolande de Polingac, Tricia Snell, Reading, Massachusetts
Revolutionary ensemble, Tatiana Sullivan, Hope Valley
Revolutionary ensemble, Liliana Varela, Pawtucket
Louis XVI, Josh Winderman, Island Park, New York
Mrs. Sauce, Sabrina Youn, Central Falls