At Surrey Arts Centre, the studio stage will soon be set for a comedy boasting one very long title and no shortage of gags involving actors in a play where everything goes wrong.
Writers David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr. called their script “The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery,” which many have dubbed “Farndale,” simply.
“With a title so long, it barely fits on the ticket,” quipped Crystal Weltzin, general manager of Royal Canadian Theatre Company.
She is producing the play’s five-show run at the arts centre from Oct. 26 to 29, with November dates to follow at New Westminster’s Anvil Theatre in a season-kickoff for the Surrey-based RCTC.
Weltzin promises a play filled with hilarity and unforgettable action as it follows the ladies of the F.A.H.E.T.G. Dramatic Society on one disastrous opening night for the whodunit, “Murder At Checkmate Manor.” Scenery collapses, cues are missed, lines forgotten and sound effects soured.
The five actors are Justine Jones (as Mrs. Reece), Rebecca Trotzuk (Audrey), Alice Battista (Felicity), Natalie Gifford (Thelma) and Amanda Haggett (Gordon/O’Reilly).
“The cast has melded really well, and they’re having so much fun together,” Weltzin reported. “One of the actors, Rebecca Trotzuk, said she’s so angry because she can’t see the show, but she’s also so happy because she’s in the show, if that makes sense.”
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The laughs will be similar to “The Play That Goes Wrong,” staged at Langley’s Theatre in The Country earlier this year, and also “Peter Pan Goes Wrong,” which Arts Club Theatre Company brought to its Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage in Vancouver last fall. Both of those comedies had me crying with laughter, and “Farndale” should be no different.
“This is like those shows, and this one actually predates those ones, is my understanding,” Weltzin noted. “But it’s a very similar vibe, very silly, stuff goes wrong and it’s so much fun to watch them struggle and try to cover up the mistakes.”
The script is brought to the stages in Surrey and New West by Kerri Norris, director, and Stephanie Bruce, technical director in charge of sound and prop design.
“Stephanie has had a lot of fun, basically rigging so much stuff to break,” Weltzin noted. “Like, we had one chair that was already broken and we were like, perfect, we’re using this one. They’ve had a lot of fun with making props fail, and Stephanie really enjoys kind of the special effects of making things break but in a very specific, repeatable way.”
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A volunteer, Peter Russell, helped fix a conversation chair. The characters keep trying to look at each other on this chair, which has back-to-back seating. “So they keep getting up to talk to each other and kind of rotating around this chair,” the producer continued.
“There’s a really crazy scene where they move chairs on and off the set for, like, two or three pages in the script. Kerri was saying that it took them half the day of rehearsal to figure it out, three or four hours, for this one scene. The performers were, like, ‘What if we tried this? OK, what if we did this? Could it be done this way?’ It’s such a fun, collaborative performance to make it all go wrong but in the right way.”
She called “Farndale” a wonderful first show for Royal Canadian’s comedy-filled season ahead.
“We haven’t done a show quite like ‘Farndale,’ and I feel like where we are right now, with all the changes of last year, it’s such a good show for us to kind of show both what we can do and the people that we’ve been able to bring in and collaborate with. It’s all such a good testament to their efforts, their talent and their hard work.”
For Surrey show tickets visit rctheatreco.com or call the Surrey Civic Theatres box office, 604-501-5566.
Later this year, RCTC’s annual winter pantomime will be a version of “Cinderella” written by Weltzin with music by Argel Monte de Ramos. Audiences can expect sing-along music, corny jokes and plenty of laughs during the panto’s run at Surrey Arts Centre from Dec 15-26, with additional dates to follow at Massey Theatre in New Westminster.