WORDPlay - July 2010

Jeeves Intervenes

P.G. Wodehouse's beloved characters Bertie and Jeeves will come to life on the MCT stage this summer in JEEVES INTERVENES, by Margaret Raether, August 12-29, 2010.

Join us in high society 1920s London as wealthy, witty, and wandering Bertie Wooster and his crony Eustace Bassington-Bassington attempt to dupe their relatives. They hatch an ingenious scheme to save Bertie from an unwanted marriage and Eustace from being shipped to India. Will the all-knowing servant Jeeves be able to rescue them from themselves? This delightfully British romp is a tribute to the comic stories of P.G. Wodehouse.

Onstage favorite Tami Workentin makes her MCT directing debut with this quick-witted comedy. Reversing their roles as servant and master since last summer's AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS are Matt Daniels as Jeeves and Chris Klopatek as Bertie Wooster. The rest of the cast includes Laura Gordon SKYLIGHT, THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA) as Aunt Agatha, Rick Pendzich (THE FOURTH WALL, BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS) as Eustace Bassington-Bassington, and making their MCT debuts, Alison Mary Forbes as Gertrude Winklesworth-Bode and Peter Silbert as Sir Rupert Watlington Pipps.

P. G. Wodehouse: Amusing, Astute and Perfect for Theatrical Adaptation

By Jacque Troy, Education Director/Literary Manager

"Wodehouse is a funny Old English name that has become synonymous with the kind of humour that involves silly young men, dotty peers and a regiment of all-powerful aunts and butlers." from Wodehouse: A Life, by Robert McCrum

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, called "Plum" by his family and friends, boasts an impressive body of work including novels, collections of short stories, and musical theatre. He enjoyed enormous success during a career that spanned more than seventy years. And despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his lifetime, from 1881 to 1975, Wodehouse's (pronounced "wood-house") clever, witty prose remained largely focused on pre-war English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

Though born in Hong Kong where his father served as a British judge, at the age of three Plum was sent back to England and placed in the care of a nanny. He attended various boarding schools and, between the ages of three and fifteen, saw his parents for barely six months in total. Wodehouse filled the voids in his life by writing relentlessly. When dire financial circumstances in the family precluded college, Wodehouse's father found his son a position with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. Young Wodehouse readily admitted that he "never learned a thing about banking." Instead, he wrote part time, and in 1902 became a journalist with The Globe. He continued freelancing until The Saturday Evening Post serialized a collection of his short stories in 1915, which led to many other writing opportunities.

Continued...

Click "Download here" below to read the rest of Jacque's article and more in our Summer 2010 edition of WORDPlay.