Prior to a few years ago, I know I had a very specific image in my head as to what PG. Wodehouse’s fiercely popular fictional butler Jeeves looked like. Given my pop cultural upbringing, he might’ve looked like a cross between Edwin Jarvis, Alfred Pennyworth and the mascot of an old search engine.
Of course, I got a much more vivid impression of the character once I’d seen a Milwaukee Chamber Theatre production of a Margaret Raether stage adaptation of Wodehouse’s work. Matt Daniels was toweringly precise in the role. Aided as he was by clever direction and some remarkably sharp timing by everyone in the ensemble, Daniels was able to be every bit the unswervingly perfect butler onstage.
Since then I tried to read Wodehouse without picturing Daniels as Jeeves. Couldn’t do it. He’s absolutely perfect for the role. Daniels has a very high-fidelity, high-resolution resonance about him onstage that is endless fun in the role. As Raether only wrote three Jeeves plays and as this is the third Daniels has appeared in for MCT, this is likely a last chance to see Daniels in the role.
Matt Daniels appears in Jeeves Takes a Bow with Milwaukee Chamber Theatre April 16-May 3 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Cabot Theatre. For more information, visit chamber-theatre.com.
