QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS' Opening Night Party!

Many thanks to the Williams Inn for hosting our last opening night party of the 2009 Season!

[Photos] Sam Hough for WTF '09

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Simon Gray | Complete(ish) Works

by Clare Drobot, Dramaturg.

Doing research for the program biography of Simon Gray I began to read more of his plays and novels. At the start of this production, I’m embarrassed to say, I had only a glancing familiarity with Mr. Gray’s works. In the course of compiling and writing I began to read several of his plays and memoirs. His writing made me laugh, cry, do double takes, and kept me thoroughly captivated. Below is an unofficial chronological list of his plays with a few interesting facts, I dug up in the research process.

Wise Child (1967)
The show starred Alec Guinness and was originally written as a teleplay. When it was deemed too controversial for the small screen, Gray adapted it for the stage.

Dutch Uncle (1969)
Partially based on serial killer John Christie.
The Idiot (adapted from Dostoyevsky in 1970)

Spoiled (1970)

Butley (1971)
The Last Simon Gray play that appeared on Broadway. The revival in 2006, directed by WTF Artistic Director Nicholas Martin, starred Nathan Lane in the title role. The original production starred long time friend Alan Bates and was directed by Harold Pinter.

Otherwise Engaged (1975)

Dog Days (1976)

Molly (1977)
An Adaptation of “Death of a Teddy Bear” a Teleplay that first aired in 1967.

The Rear Column (1978)
A historical play based on the rear column left behind in Yambuya during Henry Morgan Stanley’s 1886 expedition into Equatoria.

Close of Play (1979)

Stage Struck (1979)
A Hit Comic Thriller that also starred Alan Bates.

Quartermaine's Terms (1981)

The Common Pursuit (1984)
The play follows a group of Cambridge Classmates who begin a literary magazine during their undergraduate careers and investigates their artistic dreams and the evolutions of their lives over the ensuing years. Simon Gray wrote How's That for Telling 'em Fat Lady about the US production of the play.

Melon (later revised as The Holy Terror) 1987
Simon wrote about the US production of The Holy Terror in his Introduction to Four Plays (http://www.faber.co.uk/work/simon-gray-four-plays/9780571219889/)

Hidden Laughter (1990)

Cell Mates (1995)
The initial production was beleaguered by the departure of star Stephen Fry and resulted in another collection of Gray’s diaries, Fat Chance.

Life Support (1997)

Simply Disconnected (1996)
A sort of sequel to Otherwise Engaged

The Late Middle Classes (1999)
The play’s evolution (and subsequent troubles landing a London production) became the subject of a third set of diaries Enter a Fox, which is also subtitled “Further Adventures of a Paranoid.”

Japes (2000)
The show chronicles two brothers and their 30 plus years of sibling rivalry.

The Old Masters (2004)

Little Nell (2006)
The show focuses on the affair between Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan.

Gray also wrote teleplays, novels and a series of diaries. I highly recommend reading any of the three volumes of The Smoking Diaries. For more information on Simon Gray please visit his official website at: http://www.simongray.org.uk/

[photo] courtesy of Victoria Gray. [pictured] Simon Gray

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England in the 1960's

by Clare Drobot, Dramaturg.

This turbulent decade saw the dawning of a “classless society,” a stark change in the country’s social and moral attitudes, the virtual end of the British Colonial Empire, as well as major political shift from the Conservative to the Labour Party. Quartermaine’s Terms (set in 1964 in the WTF production) is a sort of prism for the larger social and economic struggles that defined those momentous years.

The 1950s and 60s were, in general, prosperous decades in Britain especially compared to the rationing of the war years. As then Prime Minister Harold MacMillan said in his famous 1957 speech, “Indeed let us be frank about it - most of our people have never had it so good.” This reinvigorated Britain saw a growing middle class which, despite re-electing a conservative government in 1959, grew increasingly discontent with Britain’s rigid class structure.

1964 was, in fact, a watershed year for the U.K. At the center of this transition was the 1964 election, in which Harold Wilson and the Labour Party wrested control from the Conservatives for the first time in 13 years. The election was driven by the resignation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who ostensibly resigned due to ill health, although it was rumored that the Profumo Affair played a large part in his decision. The scandal centered on Macmillan’s Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, who became involved with the showgirl lover of a Russian spy. After being accused of breaching the security of state secrets, Profumo refused to acknowledge the affair and lied under oath to the House of Commons. Concrete proof of the affair was later obtained and Profumo was forced to resign. The affair and specifically Profumo’s lying under oath became a national example of aristocratic entitlement. The scandal significantly damaged Macmillan’s government and is often sited as part of the impetus behind the ’64 election results. Whatever the cause, the social transformations heralded by the younger generation led directly into the later half of a decade defined by rock’n’roll and swinging London.

The 1960s saw a wave of legislative changes that redefined the moral laws of Great Britain. Although Quartermaine’s Terms takes place at the beginning of these sweeping reforms, the characters’ lives reflect many of the period’s social controversies, from Thomas and Eddie’s relationship to the marital woes of Anita and Sackling. Over the course of the decade reforms were passed legalizing abortion (1967 Abortion Act) and homosexuality (Sodomy was decriminalized in 1967), abolishing capital punishment (outlawed in 1964), and relaxing the requirements of grounds for divorce (Divorce Reform Act of 1969). The loosening of traditional moral laws became an equalizing factor in British society.

Despite these social evolutions the decade also marked the passing of stricter immigration laws. The Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962, in essence, removed the ability of commonwealth citizens (basically the non-white populations of British colonies) to immigrate to the United Kingdom. Beginning in 1948, any citizen of a British colony had possessed the ability to immigrate to the UK by virtue of being a colonial citizen. Rising immigration rates from struggling colonies began to disquiet the native population. As illustrated in the first act of Quartermaine’s Terms by principal Loomis’s speech on “Cambridge Land Ladies” specifically one who is “refusing to take any of our students except what she calls traditional foreigners,” the tide of national sentiment was turning against foreign immigrants. Perhaps some of this strife came from the crumbling of the British Empire. Under MacMillan, the first half of the decade saw the emancipation of Nigeria (1960), Tanganyika (Tanzania) and Sierra Leone in 1961, Uganda in 1962, Kenya and Zanzibar in 1963, Zambia and Malawi in 1964, the Gambia in 1965, Lesotho in 1966, and Swaziland in 1968 (Oxford Companion to British History). In addition, both Jamaica and Trinidad opted for independence. Social unrest in these new counties led to an increase in immigration, and greater friction with the native British population.

Framed in historical context Quatermaine’s Terms is a reflection of societal transformations of the 1960s. One can see lead character Quartermaine as a metaphor for the enfeebled old guard, used to croquet on his aunt’s lawn and breakfasts of kidney and mushrooms. His inability to adapt and keep up with the shifting social mores illustrated by the day to day of the staff room parallels the increasing irrelevancy of the strict social codes that defined 1950 England and led into the tumultuous decade that followed.

[photo] Sam Hough for WTF 09

[pictured] Ann Dowd, Simon Jones

© [scenic design | Derek McLane; costume design | Martin Pakledinaz; lighting design | Kevin Adams] 2009

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Interview | Maria Aitken, Director of QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS

When I was told I would be assisting Maria Aitken on the upcoming production of Quartermaine’s Terms, I was thrilled! I feel that she serves as a strong inspiration to many female directors in this industry, including myself. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Maria about her relationship with playwright Simon Gray, the journey of Quartermaine’s to WTF, and the beautiful reflection of humanity in this upcoming production.

Kimberly Faith Hickman [Assistant Director on Quartermaine's Terms]: Is this your first time at Williamstown Theatre Festival?

Maria Aitken: Yes, it is. I only knew about it because I met Nicky Martin when I was doing a play in Boston, and then he departed for Williamstown, and I became very aware of it suddenly because I much admire Nicky.

KFH: And then he invited you to come and do this?

MA: Well, what happened was - actually, I was sitting in a restaurant next to Jefferson Mays [playing Quartermaine], between Jefferson Mays and David Richenthal, and Jefferson said to me – he named a certain theatre – and said, “They’ve asked me to do any play I want!” And I said, “God how marvelous! What have you chosen?” And he said, “Well, it’s play called Quartermaine’s Terms.” Well, I owned the rights to the play for three years in England, and I could never find the Quartermaine that I wanted, so I gave the rights back again.

So I said to Jefferson, “Look, I’m sure you have somebody in mind already, but just in case you don’t, would you think of me for directing it?” And he got up from the table, and ran out into the street! I said to his wife Susan, “Oh heavens, what did I…was I too pushy? What did I do?” She went after him, and when she came back, she said “No it’s all right. He’s crying with joy.”

KFH: Ohhh! That’s so sweet! How long did you know Simon Gray?

MA: Well I think I was twenty-two when I was in a Simon Gray play, a television play, called In The Style of the Countess, and I met him first then. That was in his drinking days, so he in fact doesn’t remember it. I then met him much, much later. I figured rather, unglamorously in one of his diaries, because he’d overheard me making a rude remark about one of his plays. And [the diary] said “This West End star dismissed it”…or something or other, and that was all me, and there was about a page of rant about that. And then I met him in someone’s dressing room, and reminded him that I was the poisonous West End star and we got on like a house on fire.

Then I directed Japes which is a play of his, at Sag Harbor. I directed Quartermaine’s Terms on the radio and wanted to do it on the West End, but the casting is so crucial, and the two people that I wanted to do it were not available. So I thought that was that, and it never really occurred to me that an American could be such an exquisite Quartermaine. And the definitive one, I believe, Jefferson’s going to be. But there was also a problem in England, which was that the man who created the role, Edward Fox, was so perfect, that actually no actor wanted to follow him. Even though it had been so long ago.

KFH: He set the bar so terribly high?

MA: Yeah, he did.

KFH: So this is the second production of Quartermaine’s that you’ve done?

MA: Well, if you count the radio, which I do…

KFH: Right.

MA: It is the second time. But it was a slightly different version. I have seventeen versions of this play in a tin trunk marked “Simon Gray” in my home in London.

KFH: And what brought you to doing the version that we’re doing?

MA: I asked him shortly before he died, because it’s always a bit of a nightmare with Simon’s plays because there are, always are, so many drafts, and you can end up with kind of insane patchwork if you’re not careful. And I asked him which one he wanted us to do and he said that he would like me to do the most recent one that toured in England, but rather ominously added – “because there were lines in it I hadn’t heard in a very long time.” So when we came to doing it here, I did in fact cut some of those lines again, with the permission of the estate and his widow.

KFH: Have you worked with Jefferson before this experience?

MA: No, I’ve just always wanted to, and I’ve asked him several times to do things. I think he’s a magnificent actor. Oh, that’s not quite true! I worked with Jefferson on Japes. He didn’t play it but we had to workshop it, in order to see if we were going to do it. And so Jefferson did that workshop for me, when he was in the middle of playing the marathon I Am My Own Wife one-man show. He so sweetly came and did two whole days of workshopping with me, and was superb. So I knew he was a Simon Gray person.

KFH: Have you worked with anyone else in the cast before?

MA: Well I taught Steve Kunken [playing Mark Sackling], so I know him from long ago. I’ve worked with Simon Jones [playing Henry Windscape] as an actress, myself as an actress, in sort of [Monty] Python type stuff. His wife used to manage the Pythons over here, and in London we did at least one television together with some of them. And Ann Dowd [playing Melanie] worked for me when she was in her twenties…the first thing I ever directed in America, which was The Rivals in Chicago, and she was a superb Julia, which is a really difficult part. I’ve taught all over America since then at Yale and Juilliard and Washington and so on. I always teach The Rivals, and I can still hear Ann Dowd. I can still hear the way she played a particular, and very difficult, speech.

KFH: How funny!

MA: It is funny, isn’t it?

KFH: It’s great. And you’ve never worked with John Horton [playing Eddie Loomis] before this?

MA: No, but what a find!

KFH: Yes! I thought because he’d known Simon, and you’d known Simon… I thought surely…

MA: Well that is a very extraordinary thing you should mention. When I auditioned him, he never said this until the audition was over, and I was completely in love with him, and determined to have him, and he then revealed that he was a life-long friend of Simon’s, and that he’d been given a copy of this play when it was in its very, very first draft, when it was called The Language School, which he still has…carries it about, and tries to make me give him new lines.

KFH: (laughs) I thought that was really cool, that he still had that, because how many actors…

MA: …keep those things, I know.

KFH: I mean, how often do you get to have a relationship with your playwright, as you guys did? But to be able to hang on to all of those…treasures…in a way. That’s really great.

MA: Well I spoke to Simon the day before he died about this play.

KFH: This specific production?

MA: This specific production. So I really feel, that somewhere…on the side, you know…

KFH: Definitely! And what is it about this play that speaks to you the most?

MA: I know no other play like it. I mean, not only is it quintessential Simon Gray… It’s – it’s more Simon Gray than anything else Simon Gray wrote. Perhaps it’s a little more benign than many of his other plays, but he… people use the word “Chekhovian” about it, and I wish I could think of a better one, but this is creating an absolutely believable society, for a play, about people whose lives we really have no experience of. And making them more and more and more and more believable as a group, until…. I don’t think American audiences are going to be put off by the fact that it’s so English.

KFH: Oh no, I don’t think so.

MA: It’s a bunch of eccentrics. Well, not even eccentrics. Just odd people, misfits, failures in a staff room.

KFH: Which we all are...

MA: Which we all are in some way, and kind of seems to me to represent a span of humanity. I kind of feel I’m in all of those characters somewhere. Or they are in me somewhere, and I think most people will feel that they recognize some aspect of themselves. It’s one of the reasons people laugh… is that they recognize some rather unattractive aspect of themselves. And of course the quality of the language, the style of the writing, the precision of the punctuation, the way he manipulates language and the cadences of real speech. He’s an extraordinary writer, I think.

[graphic design] Art Direction and Design by Iris A. Brown Design, IABDNY.com. Illustration by Kristin R. Spix Design

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Weekly Preview | August 10-16

CAROLINE IN JERSEY has opened on the Nikos Stage!

Our last Nikos Stage show of the 2009 Season, Caroline in Jersey, by Melinda Lopez, opened Thursday night to a standing room only house and fantastic reviews! Directed by Festival Artistic Associate Amanda Charlton, Caroline in Jersey stars Will LeBow, Matt McGrath, Lea Thompson and Brenda Wehle.

Caroline is down and out in New Jersey. She’s having a nervous breakdown, her career as an actress is tragically dwindling, and a peculiar stranger has made his presence known in her new apartment. Can she find a way to conquer it all? This funny and touching new play follows one woman’s whole-hearted attempt to accept the past and take hold of the future, despite the many surprises that might pop up along the way.

Berkshire Fine Arts writes: “… A winner. If heart and soul, as well as compelling performances by characters we really care about are any measure, this is sure to be a play with legs… [a] fabulous cast… a wonderful play…”

The Advocate Weekly.com writes: “The characters fascinate… [Will] LeBow is brilliant… Lea Thompson is whimsical and charming… …McGrath is fine in his role… Brenda Wehle [is] superb…”

Performances run through August 16 only. Don’t miss our last world-premiere of the season!


2 for $55 is back again - come see QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS!

Quartermaine’s Terms, the last show of our 55th Anniversary Season, opens next Thursday on the Main Stage, and in honor of the occasion, our 2 for $55 Ticket Offer is BACK!

Starting tomorrow morning, Saturday, August 8, at 10am (and through Thursday, August 13th ONLY), you can purchase two tickets to any performance of Quartermaine’s Terms for only $55! *

This charming and heart-felt 1960s comedy, written by Simon Gray and directed by the Tony-nominated Maria Aitken, follows an eccentric group of English teachers in Cambridge whose insatiable quest for knowledge has masked their secret longings for passion, romance, and true happiness.

The production stars Jeremy Beck, Ann Dowd, Morgan Hallett, John Horton, Simon Jones, Stephen Kunken and Jefferson Mays.

Quartermaine’s Terms runs from August 12th through the 23rd and concludes our 55th Anniversary Season! Don’t miss your last chance to be a part of the magic and history of Williamstown Theatre Festival, buy your tickets through this amazing offer before it's too late!

*This offer is valid through Thursday, August 13 only for performances of Quartermaine's Terms only. It cannot be combined with any other offer and is not valid on previous sales. Tickets are available by phone at 413-597-3400 or in person at 1000 Main Street, Williamstown, MA, by using the code "QT55". Box office closed on Monday.


Greylock Theatre Project's PLAYMAKING is TODAY!

The Williamstown Theatre Festival is pleased to announce the second part to Greylock Theatre Project’s 13th season. The Greylock Theatre Project is an educational outreach program that works with North Adams children living in the Greylock and Brayton Hill neighborhoods to create theatre.

In “Playmaking,” children attend a series of eight classes to learn how to write a play. They are then paired with a dramaturg and director to help them write a play performed by actors from WTF.

Performances are on Monday, August 10th at 5 and 8pm in Goodrich Hall, 863 Main St., Williams College Campus.

The Project is co-directed by Emily Windover and Christopher Kauffman. Liz Urban is the Project Manager.

All performances are free, but seating is limited, so reservations are a must. To reserve seats, please call the WTF Box Office at 413-597-3400. Box Office hours are Tuesday- Saturday 10am-8pm, Sunday 11am- 4pm.



The Workshop

Fellowship Musical performs this week, two days only! August 12-13 @ 7pm and 11pm both days in the Directing Studio.

Golden Gate with books and lyrics by Christopher Diamond, music by Michael Kooman, music direction by Christopher D. Littlefield and directed by Boris Sagal Fellow, Dan Rigazzi

With Lauren Blumenfeld, Francesca Choy-Kee, Rich Dreher, Daniel Hartley, Ashton Heyl, Lucas Kavner, Irene Sofia Lucio, Joel Perez, Gayle Rankin, and Dominic Spillane

Call 413.597.3386 for reservations.


Last round of Directing Intern shows on August 15 @ 11pm in the Log.

Cracking by Jonathan Marc Sherman, directed by Kimberly Faith Hickman
with Eloise Eonnet and Ed Porter

When All the Trees Are Gone, Where Will We Hang Ourselves? by Marisa Wegrzyn, directed by Tracy Cameron Francis
with Brett Bolton and Devin Kelley

The Admiral and Diane by Crystal Gomes, directed by: Krista D’Agostino
with Kristina Mueller and Kyle Smtih

Eukiah by Lanford Wilson, directed by Matthew Strother
with Jonathan Gordon and Micah Stock

Welcome to the Moon by John Patrick Shanley, directed by Gabrial Marantz
with Matthew Bovee, Tommy Crawford, Michael Randazzo and Claire Siebers

Alice in Wonderless Land by Franca Rame and Dario Fo, directed by Adam Stone
with James Graham, Mike Hammond, Matt Helm, Jonathan Hooks, Georgia X. Lifsher, James Morosini, Amanda Rodhe, Lily S and Allison Yates

© [photo] T. Charles Erickson 2009

[pictured] Lea Thompson in CAROLINE IN JERSEY, directed by Amanda Charlton

© [scenic design | Andrew Boyce; costume design | Emily Rebholz; lighting design | Jake DeGroot] 2009

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QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS Production Info

QUARTERMAINE’S TERMS

Main Stage | August 12 – 23

By Simon Gray

Directed by Maria Aitken

[with]

Jeremy Beck (Betrayed, She Loves Me)

Ann Dowd (The Seagull, Taking Sides, Candida)

Morgan Hallett (Translations, Long Day’s Journey into Night)

John Horton (A Touch of the Poet, Amadeus)

Simon Jones (Blithe Spirit, Waiting in the Wings)

Stephen Kunken (True West, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Frost/Nixon)

Jefferson Mays (Tony Award—I Am My Own Wife, Journey’s End)

Tony-nominated director Maria Aitken directs this charming and heart-felt 1960s comedy about an endearingly eccentric group of English teachers in Cambridge whose insatiable quest for knowledge has masked their secret longings for passion, romance, and true happiness.

Scenic Design | Derek McLane

Costume Design | Martin Pakledinaz

Lighting Design | Kevin Adams

Sound Design | Drew Levy

Dialect Coach | Stephen Gabis

Production Stage Manager | Stephen M. Kaus

Buy Tickets: wtfestival.org or 413.597.3400

© [graphic design] Art Direction and design by Iris A. Brown Design, IABDNY.com. Illustration by Kristin R. Spix Design. For WTF 2009

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