Friday, March 5, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
Damon Klassen, senior, plays the role of Betty, who owns a gentleman's club in New York City. "The Way Of The World," directed by Ronald A Willis, will be performed in Crafton-Prever Theatre in Murphy Hall starting at 8 a.m. Photo by Kongwe Ng/KANSAN
Classic English play receives new features for modern audience
By Ezra Sykes
By Ezra Sykes
esykes@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
In 1700, William Congreve is said to have run on the stage and berated the audience for not appreciating the premiere of his play "The Way of the World" after it was finished.
Three hundred years later, the University Theatre is staging the "The Way of the World" with hopes that it will receive a better reception.
The play opens at 8 tonight at Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall. "The Way of the World" also will be performed at 8 tomorrow night, 2:30 p.m. Sunday and at 8 p.m. March 11-13.
The play, which contains an underlying theme of male and female relationships, is one of the more wittier and difficult satires to stage, director Ron Willis said.
"Much of the satire is based around how men and women treat, exploit and tease each other and shows a couple that can put aside these things to have their own unique relationship," he said.
Although the theme remains the same, many aspects have been changed to make the play more accessible to modern-day audiences.
Willis spent last summer going through the two-and-a-half hour play line by line, making changes and moving from 17th-Century London to 1930s New York.
The opening scene in the original play was set in a chocolate house, a popular place for social gatherings in England during the 1600s. Now, the opening scene takes place in a gentlemen's club, a place where
socialites congregated in the '30s.
Willis said.
"I didn't really try to improve the play," he said. "I just tried to make it accessible."
Although the play has been altered to make it easier for the audience to understand, cast and crew members still had their work cut out for them.
The cast and crew have been meeting for about six weeks, spending three to 1/2, five nights a week, practicing. They began dress rehearsals Sunday.
Andrew Stowers, Lawrence senior, who has a lead role in the play, said that balancing the play with six credit hours of school and with the 35 hours per week that he works at the Java Break could be difficult at times.
Kate Haugan, Overland Park freshman, who has been participating in plays since third grade, said although rehearsals were time consuming, she didn't mind the stress.
"It's such a natural thing for me to do theater and be in rehearsal that if I'm not going through the stress of production, I don't feel good," she said.
Though the show is classified as a comedy, Haugan said that it took some brainpower to catch some of the messages.
"Ilike this play because it's intelligent and a lot of comedies don't have as much plot behind them," she said. "This one is witty and intelligent. As long as the audience is willing to sit down and think, they will be entertained."
Tickets can be purchased at the Murphy Hall, Student Union Activities and Lied Center box offices and are $12 for the public, $6 for students and $11 for senior citizens.
—Edited by Jason Pearce
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