Pistols for Two
Christina Calvit, in adapting three short stories from Heyer’s 1960 collection, Pistols for Two, for the stage, takes the author at her word. In the first minute of her adaptation she makes it clear that deep truths will be noticeably lacking in the ensuing 89 minutes. She plunks her three heroines–Hetty from “To Have the Honour,” Annabella from “Full Moon,” and Dorothea from “The Duel”–front and center and gives each her own novella, color-coordinated with her dress. The three breathlessly read highlights from their adventures, underscoring just how formulaic and interchangeable those adventures are: mysterious strangers, mistaken identities, a midnight rendezvous or three, and, of course, thwarted love. As they read with girlish exuberance, the three male actors who portray their various foils and paramours appear in pools of light behind three enormous window units hung from the ceiling. They may as well be mannequins in a shop window.
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Under Dorothy Milne’s sympathetic direction, the fantasy of unfettered romance is, at times, heart stopping. Milne coaxes rich, sincere performances from the same actors she pushes to cartoonish extremes. In “To Have the Honour,” for example, the headstrong Hetty may make Auntie Mame look like a shrinking violet, and her cloddish would-be lover Alan may display all the joie de vivre of concrete, but the sparks between them could burn down a small village. In one of the evening’s strongest scenes, the two spend a good ten minutes professing their utter lack of romantic interest in each other, yet through a thousand subtle suggestions in Milne’s graceful staging–again and again accidentally winding up face-to-face, inches apart–it’s clear how much they ache for each other.
