Opening Friday
Communicating Doors at MPC Theatre
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Communicating Doors at MPC Theatre: Intricate and “Typically Non-Typical” Play by British Master Ayckbourn
By now we are all familiar with some of the more established staples of British drama. There’s the Agatha Christie style murder mystery; the trivial sex farce; the murder farce and the sex mystery. None of those, however, featured time travel as central to the plot. None of them, that is, until Alan Ayckbourn wrote Communicating Doors, opening on the Morgan Stock Stage at the MPC Theatre Company this week. It was this twist on the usual (or unusual) that, as much as anything else, attracted director Peter DeBono to the play.
“I got fascinated with it right from the start,” DeBono noted. “It’s a time-travel play that hop scotches from the year 2014, back to 1994 and 1974 and then goes back to the future! Additionally, it’s a very funny situational play that builds into a classical British farce.”
In the play, a London sex specialist from the future stumbles upon a murder plot that sends her, compliments of a unique set of hotel doors (hence the title of the play) traveling back through time to unravel the mystery. DeBono is intrigued by the plot structure and how it involves the audience. ‘It keeps the audience on its toes,” he noted. “The plot is not linear or sequential the way you might think of a typical mystery or comedy. As far as providing information, it’s one step ahead and challenges the audience to keep up.” This in itself provided quite the challenge as far as staging the play went. Says DeBono, “When you read the script, it seems so simple. Then when you get into the staging of it you begin to realize how complex it is. It’s deceptively hard to produce and keep all of the elements ‘up in the air’ so to speak.”
DeBono hastens to add that the play is not “merely” a comic sex farce, though those elements have a dominant presence in the action. There is, as well, an undercurrent of a serious theme. As the director puts it, “It also asks the question, ‘Are we victims of fate or can we exert our free will at certain points in our lives to change the very course of our lives?’” In the hands of Ayckbourn that question may well be answered. Or not…
DeBono feels fortunate in having a capable and veteran cast to keep the intricate plot moving and provide memorable characters - in all eras. The ensemble cast includes James Brady, Bob Colter, Theresa Del Piero, Jody Gilmore, Jennifer Muniz and Ana Warner.
If you subscribe to the theory that the set or setting acts as another character in the play, DeBono again feels grateful to have designer William Strom as a collaborator. While working almost exclusively of late creating multifunctional sets for the Drama Department’s Studio Theatre and Storybook Theatre programs, Strom turned his attention and talents to the challenges of the Ayckbourn piece. He has created a set that is functional for all of the settings in each time period and augmented them with background projections that assist in the transitions and jumps in time.
Communicating Doors previews on Thursday, October 13th and runs through Sunday, October 23rd. Performances are Thursdays at 7:00 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. Tickets for preview only are 0.00. Regular general admission ticket prices are 5.00 in advance and $25.00 at the door. Non-advance tickets for seniors are $20.00. Young adults (16 - 20) are 5.00. Children 15 and under are at 0.00 and holders of ASMPC student cards are admitted for 3.00. Tickets may be obtained by calling the MPC box office at 646-4213 Wednesdays through Fridays from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. or two hours prior to curtain. Orders may be purchased online 24 hours a day at www.TicketGuys.com.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Communicating Doors at MPC Theatre: Intricate and “Typically Non-Typical” Play by British Master Ayckbourn
By now we are all familiar with some of the more established staples of British drama. There’s the Agatha Christie style murder mystery; the trivial sex farce; the murder farce and the sex mystery. None of those, however, featured time travel as central to the plot. None of them, that is, until Alan Ayckbourn wrote Communicating Doors, opening on the Morgan Stock Stage at the MPC Theatre Company this week. It was this twist on the usual (or unusual) that, as much as anything else, attracted director Peter DeBono to the play.
“I got fascinated with it right from the start,” DeBono noted. “It’s a time-travel play that hop scotches from the year 2014, back to 1994 and 1974 and then goes back to the future! Additionally, it’s a very funny situational play that builds into a classical British farce.”
In the play, a London sex specialist from the future stumbles upon a murder plot that sends her, compliments of a unique set of hotel doors (hence the title of the play) traveling back through time to unravel the mystery. DeBono is intrigued by the plot structure and how it involves the audience. ‘It keeps the audience on its toes,” he noted. “The plot is not linear or sequential the way you might think of a typical mystery or comedy. As far as providing information, it’s one step ahead and challenges the audience to keep up.” This in itself provided quite the challenge as far as staging the play went. Says DeBono, “When you read the script, it seems so simple. Then when you get into the staging of it you begin to realize how complex it is. It’s deceptively hard to produce and keep all of the elements ‘up in the air’ so to speak.”
DeBono hastens to add that the play is not “merely” a comic sex farce, though those elements have a dominant presence in the action. There is, as well, an undercurrent of a serious theme. As the director puts it, “It also asks the question, ‘Are we victims of fate or can we exert our free will at certain points in our lives to change the very course of our lives?’” In the hands of Ayckbourn that question may well be answered. Or not…
DeBono feels fortunate in having a capable and veteran cast to keep the intricate plot moving and provide memorable characters - in all eras. The ensemble cast includes James Brady, Bob Colter, Theresa Del Piero, Jody Gilmore, Jennifer Muniz and Ana Warner.
If you subscribe to the theory that the set or setting acts as another character in the play, DeBono again feels grateful to have designer William Strom as a collaborator. While working almost exclusively of late creating multifunctional sets for the Drama Department’s Studio Theatre and Storybook Theatre programs, Strom turned his attention and talents to the challenges of the Ayckbourn piece. He has created a set that is functional for all of the settings in each time period and augmented them with background projections that assist in the transitions and jumps in time.
Communicating Doors previews on Thursday, October 13th and runs through Sunday, October 23rd. Performances are Thursdays at 7:00 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m. Tickets for preview only are 0.00. Regular general admission ticket prices are 5.00 in advance and $25.00 at the door. Non-advance tickets for seniors are $20.00. Young adults (16 - 20) are 5.00. Children 15 and under are at 0.00 and holders of ASMPC student cards are admitted for 3.00. Tickets may be obtained by calling the MPC box office at 646-4213 Wednesdays through Fridays from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. or two hours prior to curtain. Orders may be purchased online 24 hours a day at www.TicketGuys.com.