PL AYBILL OF HUMAn BONDAGE
world premiere
OF HUMAN BONDAGE
Vern Thiessen Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham }{
approximate running time: 2 hours & 10 minutes. there will be one 20 minute intermission
TIDBITS
ARTIST NOTE: GREGORY PREST I’m writing this in the middle of our fourth week of rehearsal. No one will read it for nearly a month. It’s sort of like just cracking an egg and already talking about the taste of the cake. I can’t speak to the cake yet but, boy, are these eggs something. There’s true collaboration going on in this rehearsal hall. There’s great care in storytelling. There are some terrible ideas. And there are some terrible ideas that just might work. I’m surrounded by incredibly talented and generous people. I love the fact that we’re a group of artists, colleagues, lovers and friends putting our heads and hearts together to give life to a fictional world peopled by... artists, colleagues, lovers and friends. Albert is bending time and space in sensitive and outrageous ways that both spark our imaginations and leave us asking bigger questions. I think this play is about art – about creation. The deep compulsion to stick your finger into something and the self knowledge to know when to leave it alone. The recognition of beauty in the incomplete. But now I’m starting to talk about the cake. We’re still at the cracking of the egg. Back to work.
Gregory Prest, Philip Carey Of Human Bondage
• T hough
too old for active service in the First World War (1914-1918), Maugham served in the British Red Cross’s so-called Literary Ambulance Drivers. He proof-read the galleys of Bondage during a lull in his duties. Here he also met the love of his life, Gerald Haxton. In 1917 he was sent on special mission for British Intelligence to curb Bolshevist tendencies in Russia. He liked to say if he’d had a few more months on the job, the Revolution would never have happened.
• T he
original title of the novel was Beauty from Ashes. The title he ultimately chose was taken from a passage in Spinoza’s Ethics. “The impotence of man to govern or restrain the emotions I call bondage, for a man who is under their control is not his own master... so that he is often forced to follow the worse, although he see the better before him.”
• M augham
had a bone-dry sense of humour. One of his most quoted lines is: “There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.”
CREATIVE TEAM
OF HUMAN BONDAGE
CA S T Dan Chameroy
Cronshaw, Miller & others
Oliver Dennis
Dr. Tyrell, Lawson & others
Raquel Duffy
Alice Antonia & others
John Jarvis
Thorpe Athelney, MacAlister & others
Richard Lam
Various
Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster
Sally & others
Jeff Lillico
Griffiths & others
Gregory Prest
Philip Carey
Paolo Santalucia
Dunsford & others
Sarah Wilson
Norah Nesbitt & others
Michelle Monteith
Mildred Rogers
Production Vern Thiessen Playwright
Albert Schultz Director
Lorenzo Savoini
Set & Lighting Designer
Erika Connor
Costume Designer
Mike Ross
Composer & Sound Designer
Robert Harding
Kelly McEvenue
Stage Manager
Alexander Coach
Laurie Merredew
Ella McAllister, Rebecca Savage
Assistant Stage Manager
David Ben
Student Wardrobe Assistants
Magic Consultant
Guillermo Verdecchia
Dramaturge
Michael Armstrong
Dialect Coach
SOULPEPPER PRODUC T ION Jacqueline Robertson-Cull
Stefan Dean
Wigs Running, Head of Hair & Makeup
Sewer
Erika Connor
First Hand
Geoff Hughes Joanne Lamberton
Wardrobe Coordinator
Lead Wardrobe Coordinator
Cutter
Barbara Nowakowski Natalie Swiercz
Emma Zulkoskey
Dresser
s p e c i a l t h a n k s: s a l e e m a h m e d.
Of Human Bondage was commissioned by Soulpepper Theatre Company.
i l l u s t r at ion : t h e h e a ds of s tat e
Paul Boddum
Scenic Painters
Greg Chambers
Props Builder
Mike Keays
Carpenter
BACKGROUND NOTES
“I have most loved people who cared little or nothing for me.”
B
ritish author William Somerset Maugham wrote these words to describe himself but they could just as easily describe Philip Carey, the protagonist of his classic novel, Of Human Bondage. Published in 1915 in the midst of the Great War, it was not well received when it came out, even though Maugham was already a well-established and popular author. Over time though, readers were drawn to this compelling exploration of the power and enduring hold of our most inexplicable desires. The obsessive love that drives the story was shocking, infuriating, and thought-provoking when it first appeared and its dark appeal has held: in 2015 the novel will celebrate one hundred continuous years in print.
As with much of Maugham’s work, fact and fiction are blended so artfully that even the author admitted he had a hard time separating the two, though he claimed that he invented more here than he took directly from life. Both he and Philip were lonely orphans – Maugham lost both parents before the age of 10 and suffered such systematic schoolyard bullying that it left him with a lifelong stammer. Both author and character go through medical school without being sure they want to be doctors, and both are deeply marked by the experience. Maugham considered the training invaluable for his writing: “I saw how men died. I saw how they bore pain. I saw what hope looked like, fear and relief.” When he came to this novel – generally considered to be his masterpiece – he poured this stored knowledge, along with his own pain, suffering, rage and craft into the creation of these unforgettable characters. While the novel has been adapted for film three times it has never had a stage adaptation, not even by the original author, who was a playwright himself. So we were thrilled to commission Vern Thiessen’s fluid, imaginative and richly theatrical stage version. What’s on the page is an intricate, boldly honest portrayal of how a singular obsession feels, in Thiessen’s nimble adaptation, muscular, inventive, vivid and... made for the stage. Somehow he’s stripped the narrative to its essentials without sacrificing any of the power, longing and danger of the book. The novel’s complexity and depth has sometimes been compared to a Beethoven
symphony. This version is a masterful jazzy reinvention that will startle, engage and provoke you, even as you feel the original melody throbbing underneath. Of Human Bondage was written almost one hundred years ago but the tale it tells is as current as today’s headlines. We invite you to come to the edge of your seat and rediscover this classic through fresh eyes.
Author Biogr aphy
English playwright William Somerset Maugham was born in Paris in 1874. He trained as a doctor in London where he started writing his first novels. Maugham travelled often during his life, to Europe, North America, the Far East, and the South Seas and beyond, which heavily influenced his writing. He also explored many professions including soldier, doctor, spy, and playwright. He achieved fame as a writer in 1907 with the production of Lady Frederick and by 1908 he had four plays running simultaneously in London. In 1926 he bought a house in Cap Ferrat, France, which was to become a meeting place for a number of writers, artists and politicians. He died in 1965. Playwright Biogr aphy
Vern Thiessen was born in Winnipeg in 1964. After obtaining his Masters from the University of Alberta he worked in Edmonton, ultimately receiving a City Arts Achievement Award in recognition of his cultural contributions. In Alberta he taught at the University, and served at separate times as president of the Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Writer’s Guild of Alberta. His play catalogue embraces children’s theatre, musicals, historical drama and adaptations and his work has been translated into multiple languages and seen around the world. He won a Governor General’s Award for Einstein’s Gift and Vimy garnered a Carol Bolt Award for Best Play. Currently he divides his time between Canada and NYC, where he is an Associate Artist with Epic Theatre Ensemble. Wherever he is, he is always married to novelist Susie Moloney.
Tidbit & Background Notes by 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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