Whitehead, Etc. Set for Westport's Relatively Speaking

Westport Country Playhouse will present the comedy Relatively Speaking, written by Alan Ayckbourn and directed by John Tillinger (Night Must Fall, The Sunshine Boys; The Drawer Boy at Westport), July 12 - 28.

"An unidentified pair of slippers found under a bed leads to a series of hilarious misunderstandings, mistaken identities and alibis between two young lovers and a middle-aged married couple until no one is certain who's in love with whom," as described in press materials.

"Playwright Alan Ayckbourn is a skilled craftsman who loves the idea of people as puzzles," said Tazewell Thompson, Westport Country Playhouse artistic director.  "He knows how pieces of the human heart, emotions and relationships fit together.  Ayckbourn is mischievous with his characters, especially those falling in and out of love.  You believe the ingenious high jinks his characters endure because they are so real and their situations, while sometimes implausible, hit so close to home."

In 1970, Westport Country Playhouse produced the first professional American staging of Relatively Speaking. The cast included Joan Fontaine.

Cast members for the 2007 production are Geneva Carr (Off-Broadway: Rose's Dilemma, Betty's Summer Vacation, "Hope & Faith") as Ginny, Cecilia Hart (Broadway: Design for Living, Othello, Dirty Linen) as Sheila, James Waterston (The Importance of Being Earnest at BAM, New York Shakespeare Festival's As You Like It, "Six Feet Under") as Greg and Paxton Whitehead  (Broadway: Absurd Person Singular, My Fair Lady, Drama Desk Award for Noises Off) as Philip.

Ayckbourn is the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and the author of 70 plays, most of which were premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. More than half have subsequently been staged in London. They have been translated into 35 languages, are performed throughout the world and have received many national and international awards. His works include How the Other Half Loves, Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Just Between Ourselves, Bedroom Farce, A Chorus of Disapproval, Woman in Mind, Comic Potential, Things We Do for Love, Improbable Fiction and Private Fears in Public Places. His book, The Crafty Art of Playmaking, has been published in Spain, Sweden, Germany and the U.S. The holder of a number of honorary degrees, he is also the recipient of a Montblanc de la Culture Award for Europe, a Sunday Times Literary Award for Excellence, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Writers' Guild of Great Britain and the Variety Club of Great Britain.

The design team is James Noone, set, Laurie Churba, costumes, Kevin Adams, lighting, Scott Killian, sound, and Christine Catti, production stage manager.

Visit www.westportplayhouse.org for more information.

Photo by Kathleen O'Rourke - James Waterston, Geneva Carr, Paxton Whitehead and Cecilia Hart

 

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