The 1930s were a time of worldwide turmoil. Fascism was on the rise, the economy had crashed, and Hitler had come to power. The play Idiot’s Delight sets a hotel in this time period, in northern Italy. Due to increasing hostilities between nations, many guests become stuck in the hotel. These guests are from a multitude of countries. In Idiot’s Delight, we see how they might have interacted.
In any play, acting is by far the most important component, because the actors are the only things on stage that can move of their own accord. The most noticeable aspect of acting in Idiot’s Delight are the accents, which are pulled off rather nicely. You can easily recognize the actor’s supposed countries of origin. For example, when the German scientist mentions Bach, he pronounces it in the correct German fashion, i.e. with a hard and lingering "h". His was my favorite accent. Also, to my delight, they used the American accent of the twenties and thirties, which has a sort of harder tone, was a bit sharper, and was generally higher in pitch.
Accents were not the only interesting aspect of the acting. The actors motions were also absorbing. A prime example is the hotel’s valet and waiter. To indicate subservience, he never stands fully upright. In fact, for most of the performance he appears to be a hunchback without the hunch. Another intriguing example of this is the continuum of Italian officers. On one end, you have the pilots, who slouch and move about like a the typical "Macho" man. They were cocky and self assured, with a sort of vague air of disrespect. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the young officer, with his eyes on promotion. He stands up straight, snaps to attention, and walks stiffly. In the middle, you have the local leading officer, whose posture is nowhere near as strict as the young officer, but is still there, unlike the pilots. He walks smoothly, but still exercises a lot of caution, not being so forward, while still retaining his involvement in the situation. One could learn a lot from their body language. On a different note, you have Mr. Van’s girls, who have one of the most difficult motions in the play: Gum chewing. Now, the act of chewing gum isn’t very difficult in of itself, but these girls have no gum. It would impede their speech. So, they have to remember, for every single moment that they are on stage, they have to chew their imaginary gum. They didn’t forget, not even once.
The stage has a brilliant design, the centerpiece of which is the staircase. This staircase leads down into a little dining room type area, with tables strewn about, and all these tables have little flags on them, one from each country featured in the play. You are established as a sort of invisible man, who watches this room. While you see more than any one person sees, events can be hidden from you with the simple act of having them take place in another room. However, I do have two bones to pick with the set. First, it bends under pressure, which is kind of distracting early on in the play. Also, the painting which is supposed to look like a mountain I thought rather resembles a tree branch. To its credit, I did see the resemblance when Donald Navadel referred to it as a mountain. It is just that, without the direction, it’s hard to place.
What really makes or breaks a show are the little touches. In Return of the Jedi, I believe that the entire film is saved when we see the preparations for the little furry forest creatures to cook the heroes. One of the creatures, while preparing some vegetables, is singing this little, unrecognizable tune. Through this, the director tells the audience that these creatures are actually rather nice. Idiot’s Delight had several such moments. For example, the scene where the pilots ogle the girls and speak in rapid Italian is one such touch. Another is the symbolism of having the Frenchman, the Englishman, and the American standing on one side, and the German scientist and Italians on the other. It uses them as symbols for their country’s allegiances. Also, when the Frenchman is taken off by the Italians, he starts singing la Marseilles, which was sung so famously in a similar scene in Casablanca, with the exception that, in Casablanca, the revolutionary gets away. In Idiot’s Delight, the revolutionary is shot by the Italian military. In perhaps my favorite of these touches, Mr. Van, shortly before the climactic ending, starts to pound out The Ride of the Valkyries on the piano while bombs are dropping around him. Finally, when the last bomb is dropped, all the other sounds quiet for a moment, and the lights flash to their most brilliant, showing the Irene and Mr. Van embracing at the head of the staircase. Then, just as quickly, the lights drop to nothing.
The rest is silence.