As the warm Wisconsin night closes in, so does "The Circle" at American Players Theatre

A review of 'The Circle' from Chris Jones of The Chicago Tribune. THEATER REVIEW: "The Circle" Through Sept. 25 at American Players Theatre, 5950 Golf Course Road, Spring Green, Wis.; Tickets: $39-$64 at 608-588-2361 or www.americanplayers.org SPRING GREEN, Wis. - You have to wonder what Somerset Maugham - a former British intelligence agent of impeccable breeding and a man generally regarded as a creature of the English drawing room - would have thought about one of his plays competing with persistent Wisconsin heat, mosquitoes and overachieving crickets. But I think he would have enjoyed the rapt attention given to his gripping play 'The Circle' by the smart audience you invariably find here at the American Players Theatre. Even the 'skeeters seemed to be lingering over the stage, drinking in a word or two. Unlike so many of the constantly revived plays from the early 20th century - the Shaws, the Cowards - this is a play that very few of us on Tuesday night had seen before. 'It's a sleeper,' said one delighted gentleman behind me, clearly engrossed in its deceptively wry and wise treatment of such little matters as love, marriage, politics, mistakes, regrets, compromises and the inevitable inclination of the young to ignore the wisdom of the old. For, as Selina Hastings' recent biography, 'The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham,' points out, Maugham was actually a very complicated man with a very complicated relationship with the English establishment. And that touch of anarchy, that note of cynicism, those unpredictable jolts of intellect and compassion, are what make 'The Circle' so incredibly well rounded. It is an ideal match for the skilled repertory company at American Players and for the measured Chicago director, James Bohnen, who is at his best with just such a play. Written in 1921, 'The Circle' anticipates the massive social changes coming with the dawn of feminism and increased sexual freedom. 'Some of us are more mother,' one character observes to an uncomprehending man, 'some of us are more woman.' 'I want to be free,' says a wife to her husband of three years. 'Don't be ridiculous, darling,' comes the reply. But it's also a reminder of how little things change. 'Even when they are in love,' says an older woman to a younger, 'men are not in love all day long.' And there's a lot of talk about how to manage love in long relationships, including a devastating little speech about the encroachment of indifference. This play's older, wiser characters know all too well that what reads as 'charming impulsiveness' in the young seems like 'ridiculous affectation' in the old. The audience got that, all right, chuckling along with the truisms. The setup is very simple. Maugham simply puts together two love triangles, involving two generations of politically minded Brits. The play begins with Arnold (Paul Hurley) faced with the unexpected arrival of his beloved father, Lord Clive (Brian Mani), just as Arnold has invited his mother, Lady Kitty (Tracy Michelle Arnold), to lunch, replete with her second husband, Lord Porteous (James Ridge). Arnold hasn't seen his mom in 30 years, since she ran away to Italy with her new man, leaving her son and first husband to suffer the scandal and her second husband to wonder whether this neurotic was worth the death of his political career. Arnold has his own wife now, the simmering Elizabeth (Susan Shunk). But Elizabeth has become frustrated by Arnold's twin passions of politics and interior decorating (an unusual combo) and has fallen in love with their friend Edward (Marcus Truschinski), who has not a penny to his name. Most of the action revolves around whether the younger, adulterous couple will follow the same path as the previous generation. Energetic and craftful actors like Mani, superb as a man you're never quite sure whether to like, and Arnold, the dry and fearless leading lady of APT, find just the right spot between comedy and pain. And as the play twists in the wind (figuratively, there was no breeze Tuesday night), Hurley really winds himself up and confronts some demons up there in one blistering monologue. Ridge starts out broad - too broad perhaps - but his character constantly surprises, just as Maugham intended. I'd argue that the change in Lord Porteous is a little too drastic in Act 3; ideally, you see a more certain link as you imagine who these characters were as distinct from what they have become. But that's a minor quibble in a show that's entirely worth the drive from Chicago. On Tuesday, the night darkened along with a play that always manages to stay a good step ahead of its audience. Outdoor theater has its discomforts, sure, but the fading natural light is a perfect match for 'The Circle,' as the sunny games and social niceties progressively give way to truths as hard and long-lived as the trees that surround this most beautiful of Midwestern stages.