The stars of Broadway's sharpest satires are finding the heart beneath the punchlines

Actors Bill Irwin, of The Imaginary Invalid, and Erin Morton, of School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, share the secret to balancing biting comedy with genuine heart.

Summary

• Actors from the comedy plays The Imaginary Invalid and School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play discuss the secret to balancing truth and humor in their shows
• Writer/adapter Bill Irwin talks about how relatable themes of family chaos make Molière’s 1673 play just as funny as when it was written
• School Girls's Erin Morton talks about the importance of pacing, earnestness, and not overplaying the joke
• Both plays feature ensemble casts who work together to maintain each show's rhythm and tone

This fall, Broadway audiences are being treated to a double dose of theatrical satire at The Imaginary Invalid, at the Todd Haimes Theatre through November 22, and School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre through November 15. Though centuries apart in their creation, both ensemble plays lean on heightened comedy to skewer social absurdities and make biting truths land with a laugh.

Jocelyn Bioh's School Girls, which debuted off Broadway in 2017, centers on the treacherous social hierarchy at a 1986 Ghanaian boarding school, whose teenage students are played by Tony nominees like Denée Benton and Jasmine Amy Rogers alongside Broadway newcomers, including recent Heathers breakout star Erin Morton. Five blocks away, The Odyssey's Bill Irwin stars in Molière’s 1673 comedy as a self-obsessed hypochondriac who schemes to marry off his daughter to a doctor to save on medical bills.

For the revival directed by Tony nominee Brandon J. Dirden, Irwin not only stars but also newly adapted Molière’s script. The 2005 Tony winner for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? brings his unique background in acting and clowning to the role of patriarch Argan. Irwin noted how adapting the text deepened his appreciation for its well-constructed physical and structural comedy.

“I’ve always loved some of the jokes in Invalid,” Irwin said. He particularly admires a sequence in which Argan’s daughter, who has another romantic future in mind, is forced to secretly communicate with her lover in the form of an opera. “Just the idea of two young people communicating with each other in code, pretending they’re doing an opera, it can’t go wrong,” Irwin said. He added that the relatable familial themes ground the silliness: “The story from 350 years ago and the family passion just holds.”

For Irwin, Invalid's brilliance lies in how the playwright blended different comedic styles. “The interesting thing about Molière is that he hybridizes satire and farce,” Irwin explained. “It has enough farce urgency and energy to carry the satire, so it isn’t just a satire where the danger is that you’re making your comments from a superior distance.”

Irwin also highlighted the musicality of the satire, pointing to moments where characters engage in a battle of overly polite, simultaneous dialogue. “There’s two men talking at the same time, half listening to each other but going through their notecard speeches,” Irwin said. “That’s a satiric joke.”

When it comes to the mechanics of performing satire, both Irwin and Morton said they rely on distinct rhythms to propel the comedy forward. “It’s truly all about rhythm," said Morton, speaking on behalf of Tony-nominated director Whitney White's production of School Girls.

"Whitney explained it very well: If someone drops the ball, it feels like the show dies," continued the actress. “The quicker it is, the wittier, the more clever, the more absurd.”

Morton plays Nana, the long-suffering target of a popular clique's cruelty. For her, the key to unlocking the humor in Bioh’s script is resisting the urge to overplay it. “The jokes land because the writing is good,” Morton said. “We don’t have to do very much for her language to land.”

That restraint, she noted, is what makes the satire so resonant: “When it comes to getting laughs, there’s nothing funnier than a person saying something absurd, and it’s funny because they mean it.” Physicality and body language also play strongly into her performance as a student trying to figure out her place in the world. “There’s nothing funnier than a little child who wants to be so grown,” Morton said.

Both actors believe the core of Broadway satire, besides razor-sharp timing and clearly defined targets, is uncovering the humanity beneath the punchlines. “I’m an actor who by instinct looks for a way to find some note of sympathy, empathy, with an audience no matter whom I’m playing,” Irwin said.

For Morton, playing Nana resonates far beyond the laughs. “Nana is me when I was in middle school, elementary school, and high school,” Morton shared. “Doing this show is allowing me to truly heal that part of myself that never got a chance to do it.”

Get The Imaginary Invalid tickets now.

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Photo credit: School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play on Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy)
Irwin photo courtesy of The Imaginary Invalid