Tuesday 18th March 2008

                Nick playing Roy Hubley                                   Director Janet Bolam and cast members 

                                                                                            Nick Quartley and Cathy Oakes

Cathy as Norma

 Thursday 13th March 2008

"Some notes on Neil Simon…

Neil Simon is one of the most famous and most prolific of American playwrights, and his brand of humour, pathos and sharp observation have been enthralling audiences since the early 1960s.  His best-known works include Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Sunshine Boys, The Goodbye Girl, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Lost in Yonkers, which won the Pulitzer Prize.  During his career, Simon has received 17 Tony nominations and four Oscar nominations for best screenplay.  To say he is successful is something of an understatement!

Known for witty renditions of New York Jewish comedy, Simon also delivers well-drawn characters and situations far outside of this milieu.  In fact, the men and women he created on stage and in film have become immediately recognizable urban types of the 20th century .  It is fair to say that without Neil Simon, there would have been no Woody Allen, no Seinfeld, and no Friends."

     Original Playbill from Lost in Yonkers                     Barefoot in the Park starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford

Wednesday 5th March 2008

 

Stage manager Gareth Morris looking pleased.  He knows how to keep warm in the cold rehearsal space!

Cast members Emma Way and Dave Crewe mid-scene.

Actors Sam Knipe and Simon Vail rehearse Act I.

Q: This your first American play – does it require a different approach?

JB: Yes, it absolutely does.  My first thought was how can we do this with convincing American accents.  Not only that, but American accents coming from the right part of America.  I remember with horror Dick van Dyke's cockney accent in ‘Mary Poppins’ and would not want to inflict the American accent equivalent on any audience! I am also aware that the geographical variations in accent are as great in the US as they are here and we have find the right one for the area and the social class of the characters.  For Plaza Suite we need a New York Jewish accent (as opposed to, say, a New York Italian accent).  So one of the first things I did was to look for a dialect coach and found the excellent Richard Ryder, who is now working with us.   My second thought was to look at the differences in cadence and rhythm of speech.  It is amazing how different it is.  Homework for the actors included watching many Woody Allen films and others of that ilk so that they could get used to hearing the different patterns of speech.  It really helps that one of our cast, Katherine, and our production manager, Mary, are real, live Americans who can test what they hear and see for authenticity.

Q: There are about eight weeks to go now – what is your biggest challenge at this stage of rehearsals?

JB: Actually, there isn't one single big challenge – there are lots of medium sized ones that compound to make this a challenging project for us all.  At this stage, we are juggling lots of balls. The cast are really picking up accents and cadences very quickly, but on top of that we are working on character and plot development and how we move about the stage. At the moment we are doing this whilst still clutching scripts.  Taken together, it is all much harder than it looks!

Q: What do you look for when casting?

JB: I think casting is the most important thing a director does.  Get the cast right and your problems are halved.  In general I want to be convinced that the person auditioning can play the part. This is partly about skills as an actor, and partly about externals, i.e. can that person look physically convincing in the part.  After that, I may consider factors such as previous experience, and, sometimes, it can be just about people and a feeling that they are "right".  Having said that, in the past I have had to turn away fabulous actors because they were just not right for a particular part, and I have spent anxious hours hoping that they will audition for other plays at other times.

JB: I would like to say something about "how much I love the Neil Simon oeuvre", and then discuss the comparative merits of this play over that, but the truth is – I just like it!  As Neil Simon might have said, "I read it years ago, it made me laugh, what can I tell you" When I originally tried to get permission to perform it, I was told via his agent that it was embargoed because a West End revival was in the works. Well, the West End revival never happened, and the rights were once again made available. Even so, there is nothing like being told you can't do something to make you really want to do it.

JB: No!  The hotel has just reopened after a year or more of refurbishment, and as soon as we finish the play, I'm booking my trip.

Webmaster Stephen Whitaker