Popular play gets another run
Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
BENTONVILLE - "See How They Run," by Philip King, is one play community theaters just love to perform over and over again.
The Village Players will perform their own version Oct. 10-12 at White Auditorium, located on the Northwest Arkansas Community College campus in Bentonville.
"Actors, directors and audiences just love it," Village Player Sonja Redwine said. "Normally, theaters like to wait at least 10 years before repeating a play, but our group just couldn't wait that long before doing this one again."
Set shortly after World War II, the play is about an American actress who came to England with the USO. She has married an English vicar and is attempting to settle into her new life.
Her efforts to be more refined are complicated by the arrival of an old American actor friend, now a military corporal. When the pair decide to go out to their local theater, the corporal must change out of his uniform and into the vicar's second best suit. Misunderstandings and mistaken identities create delightful confusion. Further upsetting the situation are an escaped prisoner, a jealous rival, a sassy maid, a visiting clergyman, a clueless sergeant and a humorless bishop.
Two members of the backstage crew - Redwine and stage manager Karen Mc-Caulley - have worked on three different productions of the play. McCaulley recalls that during one of the performances of the first production, a woman in the audience laughed so hard, she fell off her chair and could not get back up until the act was over.
"The second time I worked on the show (in 2001 ), crew members kept apologizing for disrupting the rehearsals by laughing so much, they couldn't get their own work done," Redwine said. "I heard from audience members for weeks afterward about how much they loved the show."
The Village Players aren't the only ones who love the play. It was first performed in England in 1944 as entertainment for the troops. It went on to open in a West End theater in London in January 1945. Despite three V-1 flying bombs falling nearby, no one left the theater that night until the final curtain. Newspaper reviews the next morning proclaimed the show a hit, and it ran for 589 performances.
"See How They Run "will be performed at 7: 30 p.m. Oct. 10 and 11, and at 2 p.m. Oct. 12. Tickets are $ 10 each for adults and $ 7 for students. They can be purchased at the door on the night of performances or in advance at all Bella Vista branches of Arvest and First Western banks. In Bentonville, tickets will be available at the Bentonville, Financial Center and NWACC branches of Arvest.
Tickets may also be purchased online using PayPal at www. bellavistavillageplayers. org.
For more information, call 876-1481.
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