When she wrote, “The Revolutionists,” playwright Lauren Gunderson was deciding to have fun with that little thing called the French Revolution. It’s definitely not “Les Misérables.” But it is a slapstick-funny, intentionally overacted play that mostly keeps the audience’s attention for a little less than two hours.
The play takes place in the mind of its main character, Olympe de Gouges (a frenetic Brittney Mignano), a disorganized playwright who intends to make a name for herself by writing a theatrical production about the revolution. A knock on her door startles her, as she fears it could be the police coming to take her away. Instead, it’s her good friend, Marianne Angelle (Nique Eagen), who comes to alert her to precisely that danger. The police are ready to arrest anyone who might be plotting against them. A native of Saint-Domingue, a French colony in the Caribbean (now Haiti), Marianne is a spy whose focus is fighting against French-imposed slavery and in favor of “women’s agency over their own lives.”
They are both surprised when there’s another rather frantic knock on Olympe’s door. Olympe opens it to discover a young redheaded woman, Charlotte Corday (April Culver), who is hell-bent on killing a man she insists is a horrible, horrible man. Culver brings a welcome breath of youthful exuberance to the play. At least until she pulls up her long white gown and pulls out a long knife! Corday shares her plans to sneak into the apartment of radical propagandist Jean-Paul Marat and stab him to death while he is bathing.
Not long afterward, a hilarious Christina Bolognini shows up in a gigantic white powdered wig and wearing a bouffant dress resplendent in dozens of ribbons, which she frequently plays with. She is, of course, Marie Antoinette. Bolognini is terrific as the deposed queen. On entering, she announces “Marie enters!” And she often utters little words like “sigh” and “gasp” and “retort,” rather than actually feeling the words.
Despite Marianne’s reluctance, she finds herself becoming friends with the no-longer-queen, who sometimes appears to be witty and occasionally even offers some oddly profound conversational insight.
Co-directed by Roneet Aliza Rahamim and Gary Landis, “The Revolutionists” is often absorbing, even for audience members who know little about the French Revolution.
Camryn Lang’s set is strikingly simple. The main setting for Olympe’s home features lots of bookshelves (many with shelves that have fallen halfway down toward the shelf below), as well as a small writing desk. Set changes are handled primarily by the petite Mignano, who sometimes has a difficult time trying to pull apart large panels to switch the set to a darkened French court where people are taken and, later, beheaded. The beheadings are not shown onstage. Instead there is a tall door-like structure that an actor steps into. Suddenly a bright red light shows up on the frame, and the person inside it dies. Unfortunately, seeing a thin red light around a person doesn’t quite cut it as a substitute for a guillotine.
The four adept cast members keep this sometimes too-wordy play tight, and good direction moves it along at a steady pace. If you think about it, the “Reign of Terror” has some relevance to the current state of American politics, which makes this a very timely production.
Kudos to costume designer Lisa Claybaugh for creating costumes that fit the essence of each of the four women. One small nit is that sometimes Nique Eagen (Marianne) speaks too softly, so some of her lines are missed.
It’s also a play that’s best seen by teenagers and adults due to the use of profanity and some suggestive dialogue.
“The Revolutionists” plays at Los Altos Stage Company through September 27, 2026. For further information, click here.
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Rating: *** (For an explanation of TheatreStorm’s rating system, click here.)
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“The Revolutionists” by Lauren Gunderson. Produced by Los Altos Stage Company. Directors: Roneet Aliza Rahamim and Gary Landis. Stage Manager: Max Mahle. Scenic Designer: Camryn Lang. Costume Designer: Lisa Claybaugh. Lighting Designer: Aya Matsutomo. Sound Designer: Gary Landis. Props Designer: Rebecca Voss. Master Carpenter: Bryan Hornbeck. Carpenters: Gary Landis, Jack Landis. Scenic Painter: Greet Jaspaert. Photographers: Evelyn Huynh, Christian Pizzirani. Box Office Associates: Robin Cohen, Andrew Kracht, Mabel Yang. House Managers: Robin Cohen, Virginia Lee, Debbie McWhinney. Production Manager: Rebecca Voss.
Cast:
Olympe de Gouges: Brittney Mignano. Marianne Angelle: Nique Eagen. Charlotte Corday: April Culver. Marie Antoinette: Christina Bolognini.
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