It’s been awhile since the University Theatre has tried to generate laughs from a Robinson Theatre audience. But that’s about to change beginning this weekend.
The University Theatre will open its new season Friday with Oliver Goldsmith’s “She Stoops to Conquer,” a late-18th-century comedy, and director Jack Watson is ready to make audiences laugh.
“It’s not a play that’s going to teach anyone a moral lesson,” said Watson, the head of the theater arts department. “It’s pure slap-stick comedy.”
Watson said Goldsmith created the play because he was determined to bring comedy back to the stage.
The story, which takes place during a single night, centers on two rich, single men, Young Marlow and George Hastings. Comedy prevails in their attempts to court two young women, Kate Hardcastle and Constance Neville.
A practical joke by Kate’s stepbrother, Tony Lumpkin, results in a case of mistaken identity that sets off a chain of humorous events.
“The whole play is about tricks,” said Bekki Barnhart, who plays Kate. “It’s all about mistaken identities.”
Although Barnhart, a senior theater arts major, has acted in several University Theatre productions, “She Stoops to Conquer” is her first experience in a comedy, as is the case for Brian Henderson, who plays Hastings.
“I don’t really consider myself a funny guy by nature,” said Henderson, a senior philosophy major, so this play has provided a challenge for him.
Regardless, both actors apparently demonstrated the qualities Watson sought during casting.
“In the final process, I was looking for two specific elements,” Watson said, “a grasp of the ‘style’ of the period — a certain elegance and ease of manner — and a willingness to take some chances and be creative.”
And creativity was definitely something the whole cast and crew brought to the production, Watson said.
Watson “has given us free reign to play with the script,” Henderson said, referring mainly to improvisation. During rehearsals, Watson would let the cast know what he thought worked with the play and what didn’t, Barnhart said.
But the acting isn’t the only area where creativity is essential. The costumes complement the characters and the play’s humor, costume designer Alexandra Bonds said. Bonds, a theater arts professor, either designs or oversees the design of costumes for all University Theatre productions.
I intended “to create something that was just happy and funny,” Bonds said, “some sort of cartoon aspect. I was trying to create visual humor with the costumes.”
Bonds said she worked with Watson to get a grasp of what the actors were adding to their characters and then designed costumes to reflect that.
“There’s really a nice connection between what I designed and the acting of the characters,” she said. “I think [the play] is going to achieve the humor we’ve been working for.”
And the work has been significant, agreed Barnhart and Henderson. The cast began rehearsing on the first day of classes and has continued to do so five nights a week throughout the term — and that doesn’t include the research and practice required to perfect the roles, Barnhart said.
But now she is ready for her hard work to pay off.
“This is a very, very fun piece,” Barnhart said. “It’s just pure comedy, pure laughing. I am extremely excited to show this piece.”
“She Stoops to Conquer” will run Nov. 3-4, Nov. 9-11 and Nov. 17-18 at Robinson Theatre in Villard Hall. Curtain call for each performance is 8 p.m. Tickets are $5 for University students; $8 for University faculty and staff, senior citizens and non-University students; and $10 for the general public.
An additional matinee performance will be held Sunday, Nov. 12, at 2 p.m. to benefit Habitat for Humanity. Tickets are $15 for the special performance and can be reserved by calling Habitat for Humanity at 741-1707.