Jul. 18, 2012 - Issue #874: Musician’s Survival Guide: Songwriters on Songwriting
An Evening of One Act Comedies
"I'd just stumbled upon Sure Thing by David Ives, which was this tiny little 10-minute play and I just really loved it," states Amanda Bergen, artistic director of Capitol Theatre. "There's some terrible versions of it on YouTube, you know, high school students giving it a try," she admits with a laugh. "But it is a funny place unto itself, though, so it's never a total failure. I knew we could make it into something really great."
Bergen decided to make an evening of it by rounding out the Ives piece with two other short comedies: George Bernard Shaw's How He Lied to Her Husband and Percival Wilde's The Sequel. Each explores a different aspect of romantic relationships. "[Sure Thing] is this kind of trial-and-error play about these two people meeting for the first time and as they sort of mess up the initial conversation, they have to kind of start again," explains Bergen. She notes that The Sequel provides a glimpse of an engaged couple, while the Shaw piece goes on to explore married life.
To create a clear division between the stories, Bergen set each one in a different era. "We start out in modern day with Sure Thing and then move into mid-century '50s, '60s with The Sequel, and then go a little bit earlier; so we're kind of going back in time back into the '20s for our last production."
Due to its location in Fort Edmonton Park, one of Capitol Theatre's biggest challenges is geographical. This was a big impetus for incorporating a dinner deal: the Hotel Selkirk, adjacent to the theatre, offers a dinner buffet on certain evenings so theatre patrons will have an extra reason to travel a bit further while not needing to worry about arriving late.
Despite your opinion of one-act plays, Bergen assures that this show will appeal to all fans of comedy. "I think with comedy it's about trying as many things as you can and finding the funniest option. It's been a fun challenge."
Thu, Jul 19 – Sun, Jul 29 (8 pm)
(dinner available on Jul 19, 20, 24 – 26)
Capitol Theatre, Fort Edmonton Park, $20 – $28 vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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