PL AYBILL BEDROOM FARCE
bedroom farce alan ayckbourn }{
approximate running time: 2 hour 20 minutes. there will be one 20 min intermission
ARTIST NOTE: DEREK BOYES
Two seasons ago I had the great good fortune to dive in and explore Alan Ayckbourn’s amazing trilogy The Norman Conquests and discover the genius of his writing. All of that brilliance is being unearthed again in our rehearsals for Bedroom Farce. Under director Ted Dyksta’s observant, thoughtful and wonderfully deviant eye, the eight of us who are bed hopping in this wild ride are continually stunned by the depth of dimension Ayckbourn gives these people. It is too easy to classify a “comedy” as a diversion or a trifle that lacks substance but, thanks to the scrutiny a Soulpepper production is allowed, the sure-handed punch that an Ayckbourn comedy contains is able to be unleashed. And what a team we have! I’m always excited to play with actors I have heard fantastic things about but have never shared a room with: Ron; Amy; Caitlin; Alex; and Soulpepper Academy members Gordon and Katherine. And I am particularly thrilled to finally get to
engage with Corrine Koslo whom I have known and admired for 30 years but have never acted with on stage. I’m a very happy camper. derek boyes, Ernest in Bedroom Farce
TIDBITS • B edroom Farce was the first of
Ayckbourn’s plays to be seen at the National Theatre in 1976. It was a huge hit though one critic lambasted it for being “too West End.” (Did he mean too funny? Far too entertaining for the likes of the National?)
• D ownton Abbey regular Penelope Wilton
starred as Delia in a scene from Bedroom Farce as part of PBS’s “Great Performances” series in 2014. It was part of a broadcast called “National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage.”
p roduc t ion s p on sor
CREATIVE TEAM
BEDROOM FARCE
CA S T
Derek Boyes Ernest
Gordon Hecht Malcolm
Alex McCooeye Nick
Caitlin Driscoll Jan
Corrine Koslo Delia
Ron Pederson Trevor
Katherine Gauthier Kate
Amy Matysio Susannah
Production
Ted Dykstra Director
Creighton Doane Composer & Sound Designer
Simon Fon Fight Director
Ken MacKenzie Set Designer
Kelly McEvenue Alexander Coach
Diane Pitblado Dialect Coach
Erika Connor Costume Designer
Nancy Dryden Production Stage Manager
Louise Guinand Lighting Designer
Ashlyn Ireland Assistant Stage Manager
SOULPEPPER PRODUC T ION
Jacqueline Robertson-Cull Head of Hair & Makeup
Barbara Nowakowski First Hand
Greg Chambers Props Builder
Stefan Dean Susan Dicks Geoff Hughes Cutters
Emma Zulkoskey Dresser
Michael Baumgart Props Handling
Isaac Robinson Carpenter
Paul Boddum Scenic Painter
s p e c i a l t h a n k s: B i l l Mc B i r n i e ( F l u t i s t )
Bedroom Farce is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. The video/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited. cover illustration: the heads of state.
BACKGROUND NOTES
If you want to be blamed, marry. Alan Ayckbourn loves to dissect relationships, particularly intimate ones. In this expertly constructed comedy he trains his surgical eye on four very different marriages, whose relationships span the generations. Ayckbourn’s signature mix of brilliant construction and irresistible characters draws humour not from oneliners (though he can write great ones) but from the situation: the way these characters wander blithely in and out of each other’s bedrooms, pursuing their own impossible dreams. At the heart of the action are Trevor and Susannah, a couple who are perfectly wrong for each other. The character of Trevor was inspired by an actor Ayckbourn once knew who came to the writer’s house to discuss his problems with a particular role. Hours later, bored stiff and with no end in sight, Ayckbourn and his wife escaped to their bedroom. The actor followed them, sat on the end of their bed, and kept talking even after they’d switched off the light. The next morning the actor was mercifully gone but Ayckbourn had the seed for a character who “assumes... that the world was created as a challenge for him personally.” His selfishness brings out the worst in Susannah, “a kind of nervous giraffe” according to Ayckbourn, who is constantly on the brink of losing her confidence.
that none of the marriages around them are particularly solidly built. All of the people we meet stay together more out of habit than mutual excitement or interest. Ayckbourn’s genius is to reveal these disquieting truths in such an entertaining way. As with The Norman Conquests he makes maximum comic use of space: the action of the whole play takes place in three bedrooms in three different homes during one endless, catastrophic Saturday night. Guardian critic Michael Billington called it “a hilariously bleak view of middle-class marriage.” We’ll settle for just plain hilarious.
Playwright Biography Born in 1939 in London, Alan Ayckbourn wrote his first play at the age of 10. After leaving school at 17, he was hired as a stage manager at the Scarborough Library Theatre. There, he tried his hand at writing (and directing) and his first success was Relatively Speaking in 1965, which transferred to the West End. In 1972 Ayckbourn became Artistic Director at Scarborough and over the next decade he wrote The Norman Conquests, Absurd Person Singular, How the Other Half Loves, and Chorus of Disapproval, among others. Ayckbourn has directed the premieres of all 77 of his full-length plays. He was knighted in 1997.
These two monumentally self-involved people deal with their problems the same way Ayckbourn’s friend the actor did: by inflicting their misery on others. Wherever they go they wreak havoc, revealing
Tidbits & Background Notes by 2015 Soulpepper Resident Artist Paula Wing
THANK YOU FOR AT TENDING!
416 866 8666 soulpepper.ca Young Centre for the Performing Arts Toronto Distillery Historic District
Soulpepper is an active member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (pact), the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (tapa) and Theatre Ontario, and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. Scenic Artists and Set Decorators employed by Soulpepper are represented by Local 828 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
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bedroom farce Sponsor since 2000 – www.3macs.com
i l l u s t r at ion : h e a ds of s tat e