Familiarity Helps Cast Create Fall Frolic in Lenox
 Caroline Calkins, Luke Reed, and Marcus Kearns perform in 'Private Eyes' at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. |
But deep bonds of trust drive the artists who bring Steven Dietz's comedy "Private Eyes" to the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre through Nov. 9.
Actors Caroline Calkins, Marcus Kearns and Luke Reed were seen this summer in the company's production of "Romeo and Juliet" at The Mount. Prior to that, the three did the play in the company's Northeast Regional Tour in the winter and spring. Prior to that, all three worked as directors in its Fall Festival of Shakespeare at area high schools — roles they reprise this fall even while appearing on stage Fridays through Sundays in "Private Eyes."
"Speaking personally for me, it's fantastic, especially spending that much time with a group of people ... it makes it easier to deal with," Kearns said when the three recently sat down for a conversation with director Jonathan Croy, who helms "Private Eyes" and directed "Romeo and Juliet" with the trio.
"We were a family — tooling around, playing shows. And all of us getting to work in the same room again is fantastic because we've developed a vocabulary that we know exactly how to talk to each other. I think it's a gift to be able to do a show with almost the entire same group of people."
Reed agreed.
"And we didn't just do a play together," he said. "We actually were in a minivan every day together. We were sleeping in the same rooms. It was intimate as it could be — sometimes going through really stressful situations like pushing a van out of the snow or all kinds of stuff like loading into a very, very hot 'cafetorinasium' and doing a show at 8 in the morning.
"Not only did we have rehearsal skills vocabulary, but we had life vocabulary. I know for me it's been really easy to do the shorthand of emotional relationships on this show. I feel like I'm not really feeling out Marcus or Caroline. I already have an intimate connection with both of them that helps the scenes be worked faster."
Croy said "fast" was key in a production schedule that started with rehearsals on Aug. 29, less than a month before Saturday's opening night.
"It was a life-saver," he said. "We didn't really have a lot of time to rehearse this play, and this play is really challenging. So having that comfort level and that, 'Let's get right to it, and not make friends in the room was really helpful."
"Private Eyes," which premiered in 1996, was dubbed a "comedy of suspicion" by the plawright, tells the story of married actors Matthew and Lisa (Reed and Calkins) as their lives intertwine with British director Adrian (Kearns). "Is Lisa having an affair with the British director, or is the affair part of the play being rehearsed?" is the way Shakespeare & Company describes the central plot of the play.
Just like the real life thespians are familiar with one another, the play may be familiar to experienced theater-goers. Croy describes it as the "it play" of the mid-90s, generating productions all over the country. S&Co. did its version in the Mount's salon nearly two decades ago.
"It's the funniest thing," Croy said. "I picked it up again [this winter], and I was shocked. I remembered it as a light, frothy, effervescent comedy. I was surprised that there's actually a good deal of melancholy in it. I mean, it's still funny, but there's some 'there' there. There's some substance in the actual relationships.
"It's the story, essentially, of a love triangle. I was shocked at how it moved me. There's some beautiful language here and there throughout the play and the most unique story-telling arc I've seen in a long time."
"Private Eyes" uses flashbacks, scenes that may or may not be imagined by the characters and the aforementioned rehearsals of a play within the play to keep audiences guessing. The end result is supposed to be a night at the theater that makes you laugh and think.
Croy said the play's conceit may be a little less challenging to today's audiences than it was when "Private Eyes" debuted.
"I bet the non-linear storytelling was revolutionary," he said. "I can't think of another play other than maybe 'Betrayal,' by Harold Pinter, and that goes literally backward in time. I can't think of another play that uses time and space and reality in the way this play does.
"But of course, in the years since, we've seen this in all kinds of media. Television shows play with this stuff all the time and movies. So I think it's part of the popular culture."
In "Private Eyes," the non-linear, non-realistic story telling works particularly well, the artists said.
"In the same way that events in our lives are sort of more nebulous than a straight-on, start to finish story," Calkins said. "There are different perspectives. There's the angle of your own hopes and your own objectives and your own greatest fears. Everything that happens in my life sort of goes through those angles."
"I think the play's full of red herrings and rabbit holes that are enough to leave an audience member questioning what exactly they saw," Reed said. "But whether or not it actually happened, they'll form their opinion, which is what the play is actually about."
"Private Eyes" plays one more preview on Friday, Sept. 26, before Saturday's opening. It runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 in Shakespeare & Company's Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre through Sunday, Nov. 9. Tickets range from $10 to $60 with discounts, including the Berkshire County residents' discount. Information and tickets at www.shakespeare.org or by calling 413-637-3353.
Tags: Shakespeare & Company, theater,
