PL AYBILL pa rf umerie
Parfumerie miklÓs lÁszlÓ adapted by adam pettle and brenda robins }{
a pproxi m at e ru n ni ng t i m e: 2 hou rs & 15 m i nu t es t her e w ill be one 20 m i nu t e i n t er m ission
ARTIST NOTE: KEVIN BUNDY When I get asked what I’m doing for the holiday season I say “I’m so lucky, I get to work!” And it’s true. I love performing in December, everyone is always in such a good mood. And for the past eight or nine years I’ve had the good fortune to have been asked to perform in both A Christmas Carol and Parfumerie for the Soulpepper Theatre Company over the holidays. Actors and directors always say they love working on remounts of shows because the second chance at the rehearsal process deepens the work. That’s true. But with Parfumerie this time around for me it is a chance to rework the gags. There we were, Morris Panych, Jeff Lillico and myself going over and over the minute workings of a move we’ve done many times before to figure out exactly how to get the best laugh. I love that.
People who’ve seen Parfumerie in the past have always remarked on how rare and wonderful it is to see a true Romantic Comedy on stage. And not that Parfumerie doesn’t have its darker side of infidelity, loneliness and hard times. But there is a real joy in the heart of this play that makes it such a pleasure to be involved with and to perform. As I look around the rehearsal hall and see everyone diving into their characters and telling the story, there are smiles everywhere because we are all moved by this beautiful, touching play.
KEVIN BUNDY, Kadash in Parfumerie
gr e g ory p r e s t, m ic h e l l e mon t e i t h . p hoto: n at h a n k e l ly.
CREATIVE TEAM
PARFUMERIE
CA ST
Anna Atkinson Musician
Jeff Lillico Arpad
Kristina Uranowski Shop Patron
Kevin Bundy Kadash
Michelle Monteith Rosie
William Webster Policeman/Shop Patron
Deborah Drakeford Shop Patron
Gregory Prest George
Sarah Wilson Miss Ratz/Shop Patron
Gordon Hecht Jansci/Musician/ Shop Patron
Brenda Robins Miss Molnar
Joseph Ziegler Hammerschmidt
Michael Simpson Sipos
Produc tion
Morris Panych Director
John Lott Sound Designer
Ken MacDonald Set Designer
John Stead Fight Director
Dana Osborne Costume Designer
Kelly McEvenue Alexander Coach
Bonnie Beecher Lighting Designer
Arwen MacDonell Production Stage Manager
Noah Reid Composer
Nancy Dryden Stage Manager
Emily Mewett Janet Gregor Assistant Stage Managers Ian Michael Costello Sam Hale Apprentice Stage Managers
SOULPEPPER PRODUC TION
Jacqueline Robertson-Cull Head of Hair & Makeup
Gulay Cokgezen Sewer
Geoff  Hughes Cutter
Kelly Read Carpenter
Barbara Nowakowski First Hand
Greg Chambers Props Builder
Paul Boddum Scenic Painter
Adam Pettle and Brenda Robins’ adaptation of Parfumerie is staged by arrangement with Pam Winter, Gary Goddard Agency and Alicia Jeffery, The Characters, Toronto, Canada. Commissioned and originally produced by Soulpepper Theatre Company, Toronto, ON.
BACKGROUND NOTES
M
iklós László’s Parfumerie has become a holiday tradition at Soulpepper. Brenda Robins and Adam Pettle’s adaptation is true to the heart of the original: a valentine the playwright penned to his native city of Budapest. Two years after the play premiered, the war forced László to emigrate and the lives this story so vividly celebrates changed forever. The play had a brilliant – and extended – career even before it came to Soulpepper, with adaptations and translations beginning almost as soon as it appeared. Even in his leanest times, when László was a poor immigrant in New York, international productions of Parfumerie in its various incarnations helped him to survive. After he died, they supported his widow. Perhaps the secret of Parfumerie’s longevity is that it finds the perfect frame for an age-old premise: two people can be perfect for each other and not know it. The warmth of the local colour and tender humour add lighter-than-air layers to the millefeuille. In real life, perfume shop co-workers Rosanna Balaz and George Asztalos cannot stand each other. After work, each of them rushes home to write to a stranger they know only as “Dear Friend”. In the warm anonymity of these letters they fall in love. They are enemies by day and soul mates by night, but blissfully unaware of it partly because unlike would-be lovers today – who progress quickly from pokes and likes to e-mails, texts and first meetings in cafés – these two are so cautious, so fearful of rejection, that they do not reveal their
true identities for more than a year. For two-thirds of the action we know more than they do and we can savour the sweet comedy of their inexorable coming together. It is a joy to have actors Joseph Ziegler, Michael Simpson, Brenda Robins, Kevin Bundy, and Jeff Lillico back again and a particular pleasure to welcome Soulpepper favourites Michelle Monteith and Gregory Prest in the pivotal roles of the lovers. This production is our first holiday show to be presented in another theatre but this sweet confection is like the best holiday fare: it travels well and it’s delicious, year after year.
Playwright Biography Miklós László was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1903. In his twenties, he began writing short plays for small theatres and cabarets around Budapest. His first full-length play The Happiest Man (1934) won the Hungarian Royal Academy Award for Literature (the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize). Parfumerie (1937), his most popular work, has been adapted into three feature films and a Broadway musical. László’s other plays – most of them never translated into English – continue to be popular and frequently produced in his native Hungary. Miklos Làszlo died in New York City in 1967.
Background Notes by 2015 Soulpepper Resident Artist Paula Wing
THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING!
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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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St. Lawrence Centre Staff
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family festival presented by
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S o u l p e p p e r at t h e S t. L aw r e n c e C e n t r e i s s u p p o rt e d b y t h e Y o u n g/S c h u lt z V e n t u r e F u n d
Councillor Gary Crawford (Chair) Councillor John Filion (Vice-Chair)
Stage employees of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts are represented by Local 58 and Local 822 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Usher and concession staff employees of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts are represented by Local 2652 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.