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Oldcastle Theatre Company

Theatre Guide for The Grass is Greener Playing June 20-July 6

Bennington Center for the Arts

Romantic Comedy/High ComedyNot too long ago, Broadway theatre was American theatre. New plays andmusicals were done there and, for the most part, only there. The rest of thecountry saw versions of recent Broadway shows when road companies ofprofessional actors toured them or presented them in summer stock productions.Older Broadway shows were revived by amateurs in community theatreproductions. Perhaps someday Oldcastle may produce George Kellys The Torchbearers, a charming tribute to the so-called Little Theatre movement thatbegan in the 1920s to bring theatrical enlightenment, performed by amateurs, to

the hinterlands.

Unlike today, Broadway shows as late as the 1950s were inexpensive and easilyaccessible to middle class audiences. A staple of each Broadway season wasthe Romantic Comedy in which charming middle class men and women facedsurmountable barriers before ending up happily in each others arms. Latepractitioners of this kind of playwrighting were John Van Druten ( Voice of the Turtle; Bell, Book and Candle ) and Jean Kerr ( Mary, Mary; Lunch Hour). NeilSimons early plays, like Barefoot in the Park, followed this formula with a strongemphasis on the comedy.

After World War II, the theatrical scene changed. The regional theatremovement brought professional theatre to venues across the country. Theescalating cost of Broadway production forced Broadway producers to create, orimport, large and expensive shows that were geared, not to ordinary audiencesthat could no longer afford the tickets, but to the affluent or people on expenseaccounts. Individual producer entrepreneurs like David Merrick ( 42 nd Street,Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead ), Kermit Bloomgarden ( The Music Man,Look Homeward Angel ) and Robert Whitehead ( Death of a Salesman, The Visit) ,were replaced by conglomerates. New plays became too big a gamble forBroadway. They now open across the country and, like our last production,Trying, are unfamiliar to audiences beyond the venues where they opened.

Companies like Oldcastle can no longer rely on Broadway runs to spread theword about new plays. And, as Romantic comedies found a new andinexpensive home on television ( Friends, Sex and the City) and continued to finda home in films (Notting Hill, Sleepless in Seattle), they disappeared fromBroadway.

High Comedy is a branch of Romantic Comedy set among the wellborn, welleducated elite. It started in England after the Restoration of King Charles II and

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was originally part of an effort by the elite to separate itself from those who werenot among the favored. In recent history, in plays such as Phillip Barrys The Philadelphia Story and S.N. Behrmans No Time for Comedy, the well born findthemselves isolated in societies where they still have prestige, but the influencelies with others. The Philadelphia Story and No Time for Comedy are set during

the economic dislocation and hardship of the American Depression. The Grass is Greener is set during the period of Socialist ascendancy after the Second WorldWar.

The Context

London Firefighters after a German Raid

World War IIs impact on England was devastating. Large areas of cities hadbeen destroyed by the Blitz that took many civilian lives. The expense of the warhad weakened an already weak economy and the Empire that had provided rawmaterials and income for the small island nation was in the process ofdisintegration. But when the war ended, Englands rigid class structure remainedunchanged. The life of the Working Class was still a life of extreme hardship.The absence of adequate retirement after lives of hard work meant that workersfaced little support in their old age. Because of the lack of decent medical anddental care, British workers could often be identified by their bad teeth. The lackof proper housing and good education for the children of the Working Classdoomed them to lives no better than what their parents had.

It was a surprise to Americans when Winston Churchill, whose bull doggeddetermination had led England through the War, was defeated by the SocialistLabor party in 1945. Rather than looking back to the victories that had beenachieved, most Britons were looking forward to a new life where health,education, housing and medical resources would be more fairly distributed. Inspite of the devastation and the impaired economy, the new Labor Governmentset about establishing a Welfare State even as wartime austerity continued.

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A consequence was that those who had been at the upper end of the economicladder found themselves taxed as they had never been before. Some peoplewith substantial incomes, like playwright-actor Noel Coward, moved abroad toavoid the heavy taxation. Many owners found that in order to keep their great

estates, they had to open them to paying tourists. It was from these materialsthat English actor Hugh Williams and his wife Margaret created the delightfulcomedy The Grass is Greener. Willliams, himself, played Victor in the originalLondon production in 1956 which had a long and successful run. Earlier thatyear the English Stage Company had produced John Osbornes anti-romanticdrama Look Back in Anger that made English theatre much less hospitable toromantic comedy.

The Cast(VICTOR) Bill Tatum has appeared on Broadway(MAN OF LA MANCHA); TV: (LAW AND ORDER),

all the major soaps, and hosted ON THE WATER;Film: THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. HisOldcastle appearances include THE ODDCOUPLE, RAISING KANE, WONDERFULTENNESSEE, THE MAGNIFICANT AMBERSONS,WHOS AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?, and THEDINNER PARTY.

(HILARY) Melissa Hurst has appeared withOldcastle in ON GOLDEN POND, IM NOT

RAPAPORT and in her one woman show BABYLOVE. She has acted with the Atlantic TheatreCompany, SoHo Rep, Pittsburgh Playhouse,GEVA, Missouri Rep and appeared in the Obiewinning THE HOUSEGUESTS off-Broadway. Atthe Dorset Theatre Festival she appeared in TOMJONES, PRESENT LAUGHTER and OF MICEAND MEN. TV: Law and Order and the recurringrole of Mrs. Chitwood on GUIDING LIGHT.

(HATTIE) Yvonne Perry was part of two worldpremieres this spring at Proctors Theatre 440(GENERAL DESDEMONA and BATTLE OF THEBANDS.) She was Mrs. Van Buren in INTIMATEAPPAREL (Capital Rep), Mrs. Kendall in THEELEPHANT MAN (Hubbard Hall), Sue in ALL MYSONS (Oldcastle), Eleanor in REVERSEPSYCHOLOGY (Northeast Theatre.) She teachesacting at SUNY/ALBANY.

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SELLARS) Richard Howe, Oldcastles AssociateArtistic Director, joined the company in 1975 andhas appeared in over 100 Oldcastle productions.Favorites include JUDEVINE, GEATER TUNA,CIVIL UNION and MOON FOR THE

MISBEGOTTEN. He won Buffalos KatharineCornell Award for his performance in JUNO ANDTHE PAYCOCK. He has appeared in Hubbard Hallproductions of PYGMALION, HEARTBREAKHOUSE and MAN OF LA MANCHA. Richard hasdesigned numerous Oldcastle sets.

Eric Peterson, director of THE GRASS ISGREENER, was a founding member of OTC.in

1972 and is one of longest serving ArtisticDirectors in the country. He has produced morethan 250 plays, directing more than 200 of them.He wrote the plays CIVIL UNION andREVOLUTIIONARY WIZARD: BEN FRANKLIN andco-wrote with Paul Falzone THE YANKEETRADITION. He has written plays for OTCssecond company, Bennington Actors Express

From the Director I have been searching for the last several years for a "forgotten" play from

the late forties, fifties or early sixties. It was a time when witty, romantic comedieswere being written for Broadway by the likes of S. N. Behrman, Garson Kaninand Jean Kerr. Although THE GRASS IS GREENER was produced in thiscountry in a national tour production that featured Celeste Holm, it was, as far aswe have been able to determine, never produced on Broadway.

So, besides being largely forgotten what reason is there to revive the play?I'm glad you asked. THE GRASS IS GREENER is witty, charming and funny withsome farcical hijinks that will keep audiences guessing and laughing. It concernsa happily married woman who falls nearly instantly in love with ahandsome American stranger. Her husband decides his marriage is too preciousto lose so he decides to win her back. His methods are a bit unorthodox. Theyinclude both his former girlfriend and a duel. I am convinced audiences will havea grand old time at the play, laugh uproariously, smile often and, perhaps, thinkabout their marriages somewhat differently.

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