Charley's Aunt Preview Programme As of June 30
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The Author P R E V I E W P R O G R A M M E BRANDON THOMAS (1848-1914) was born in Liverpool on Christmas Eve THE BMO STAGE, JULY 9 TO JULY 31 1848 into a family that had no theatrical connections (his father was a boot seller). ROYAL GEORGE THEATRE, AUGUST 8 TO OCTOBER 10 Thomas joined the Royal Marines when he was fourteen, but soon left to fi nd work in the shipbuilding industry, fi rst in Liverpool, then in Hull, while supple- menting his income with forays into journalism. He also discovered a talent for entertaining, initially as a singer and poetry reciter at temperance meetings. Hav- ing met prominent London actors William and Madge Kendal, while they were TIM CARROLL, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR | TIM JENNINGS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR touring the English provinces, Thomas moved to London in 1879 and began his acting career in a variety of minor roles, before touring the United States for nine MIKE NADAJEWSKI, PETER FERNANDES months in 1885. On his return to London, he won roles in plays by important contemporary playwrights such as Arthur Wing Pinero, and in classics such as and ANDREW LAWRIE in Sheridan’s The Rivals, in which Shaw praised him for acting “agreeably and with dignity.” On other occasions Shaw expressed admiration for Thomas’s “genuine feeling,” and defended him when “it looked as if he were killing the play, whereas the play was really killing him.” CHARLEY’S AUNT Thomas’s debut as a playwright, a domestic comedy called Comrades, which by ran at London’s Court Theatre in December 1882, was not enthusiastically re- Brandon Thomas ceived (“it is impossible that a solid structure can be built upon a foundation of sand,” said The Times), but he persevered with several other forgettable plays, with NEIL BARCLAY, PATRICK GALLIGAN, none of which foreshadowed the triumph of Charley’s Aunt in 1892. It was, said ALEXIS GORDON, CLAIRE JULLIEN, MARLA McLEAN, the Manchester Guardian, “an instant and incontestable success, keeping the audi- ence in shrieks of laughter.” Thomas was in the cast of the London premiere RIC REID and GABRIELLA SUNDAR SINGH (as Francis Chesney) and he continued to appear on the London stage in a range of other plays, including Shakespeare’s Richard II (as John of Gaunt) in 1903. In December 1888 Thomas married Marguerite Leverson, despite the objections of her Jewish family. Two of their three children became ac- tors and appeared regularly in Charley’s Aunt after their father’s death. Directed by TIM CARROLL Shaw thought more highly of Thomas’s acting than perhaps Thom- as himself did, but could not deny that his fame rested on Charley’s Aunt. Designed by CHRISTINE LOHRE When Shaw went on an ego trip in a 1924 interview about how famous he was, he used the play as a measure of his fame: “My currency,” he said, “is as universal as that of Sherlock Holmes, or Charlie Chaplin, or Charley’s Aunt.” CHARLEY’S AUNT is generously sponsored by We acknowledge and honour the land upon which we gather today as the historic and traditional territory of First Nations peoples. In particular, we recognize and thank the Neutral Nation, the Mary E. Hill Mississauga and the Haudenosaunee for their stewardship of these lands over millennia. ** The Christopher Newton Intern is generously The videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited. supported by Marilyn and Charles Baillie. Director’s Notes THE CAST In Order of Appearance by Tim Carroll Jack Chesney PETER FERNANDES This is my second time directing Charley’s Aunt. I haven’t done many plays more Brassett NEIL BARCLAY than once. Not many directors do, apart from a couple of the big Shakespeares. Charley Wykeham ANDREW LAWRIE But, for any directors reading this, I can really recommend the experience. It’s Lord Fancourt Babberley MIKE NADAJEWSKI like coming back to a great novel one read in one’s youth. The piece may not have changed, but you have. Kitty Verdun MARLA McLEAN I fi rst did this play in 1994, when I was not even thirty years old. At the time, Amy Spettigue ALEXIS GORDON I looked about twelve, so it was strange to be directing actors thirty years older Colonel Sir Francis Chesney PATRICK GALLIGAN than me. They tended to look at me as though they thought it was Bring Your Stephen Spettigue RIC REID Child to Work Day. That, I suppose, is one advantage of getting old and grey: people assume you know what you’re doing. In rehearsal I do my best to correct Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez CLAIRE JULLIEN that notion as soon as possible. Ela Delahay GABRIELLA SUNDAR SINGH It’s a mark of a great play when reading it is completely unlike watching it. Walking Covers KALEB ALEXANDER Chekhov has this quality: on the page, you don’t realize how many reactions each OLIVIA SINCLAIR-BRISBANE** line might be provoking, or how signifi cant a stage direction can be. Then you watch it in the theatre, and it’s the reaction that breaks your heart, or the entrance of that person at just that moment that makes you want to hide your eyes. Char- The play takes place during Commemoration Week, Oxford, 1892. ley’s Aunt is like that. When you read it, it seems so simple. When you try to stage ACT I: Jack Chesney’s rooms in College. Morning. it, you realize that those old theatre pros knew what they were doing. Every new event or revelation is perfectly timed to take our protagonists from a perfectly INTERMISSION reasonable starting point into the heart of confusion and chaos. ACT II: Garden outside Jack Chesney’s rooms. Afternoon. Like all farces, Charley’s Aunt happens in no real time or place. Its setting is Oxford, and its time is 1892, but it is no Oxford that ever existed, and its period INTERMISSION is only helpful in that it imposes certain social rules which intensify the problems ACT III: Drawing room at Spettigue’s house. Evening. to be solved. Otherwise, it is a fairy-tale place, created only for the duration of the play, melting into nothing as soon as the curtain falls. And yet, within that artifi cial world, the people are recognizable and their desires and fears all too Stage Manager DIANE KONKIN human. It’s a delightfully daft confection, but it’s also a kind and humane play. Assistant Stage Manager ASHLEY IRELAND The sort of play that is worth doing twice. Production Stage Manager MEREDITH MACDONALD Production History Assistant Designer BEYATA HACKBORN Charley’s Aunt opened at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds on February Assistant Lighting Designer NICK ANDISON 29, 1892, and toured the English provinces before the London premiere at the Voice and Dialect Coach JEFFREY SIMLETT Royalty Theatre on December 21, 1892. It transferred to the larger Globe The- atre on January 30, 1893. The total London run was 1,466 performances. In the many British stage revivals, Lord Fancourt Babberley has been played by such For Artist photo and bio information, please go to shawfest.com/charleys-aunt stars as Leslie Phillips, John Mills, Tom Courtenay and Griff Rhys Jones. BBC Special thanks to Sharry Flett and Alexis Milligan. television revivals have featured Bernard Cribbins, Donald Wolfi t, Danny La Additional costumes by Jennifer Wonnacott of Kipper Tailoring. Rue and Ronnie Barker. In the U.S., Charley’s Aunt opened on Broadway at the Standard Theatre on October 2, 1893, and ran for four years. A 1940 revival headlined by José Ferrer as Babberley ran for over six months, but managed only UNDERSTUDIES fi fteen performances when Ferrer reprised the role in 1953. A live CBS television KALEB ALEXANDER, Jack Chesney, Brassett, Charley Wykeham; production in 1957 starred Art Carney (Babberley), Orson Bean (Charley) and NEIL BARCLAY, Stephen Spettigue; PETER FERNANDES, Lord Fancourt Babberley; Jeanette MacDonald (Donna Lucia). The Canadian premiere was at Toronto’s RIC REID, Colonel Sir Francis Chesney; OLIVIA SINCLAIR-BRISBANE, Kitty Verdun, Grand Opera House on December 12, 1906, starring Etienne Girardot. Charley’s Amy Spettigue, Ela Delahay; DONNA SOARES, Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez Aunt has been performed world-wide and translated into over twenty languages. The best-known of several fi lm versions was made by 20th Century Fox in Running time is approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes including two intermissions 1941. Directed by Archie Mayo, it featured Jack Benny as Babberley..