Since landing a part in The Beaux Strategem, actor Wyatt Purcha hasn’t felt as guilty about missing the occasional trip to the gym.
Running up stairs, leaping through doorways and onto furniture — and doing it all in turn-of-the-century knee-high boots — has been enough of a workout.
“You sweat a lot,” Purcha said.
“This is straight-up physical,” added cast-mate Andrew Cooper.
“Doors are hitting people, you’re falling over things, it’s all about the boob jokes. It’s basic body humour.”
To prepare for the latest effort from Thompson Rivers University’s Actors Workshop Theatre, actors spent a week learning the art of clowning to better throw themselves around the stage.
“This is very expressive comedy,” said director Heidi Verwey.
They really needed to not be afraid to jump in and be very clownish.”
Originally penned by George Farquhar in 1707, The Beaux Strategem was little more than a footnote in the history of theatre because of its large cast of characters and overly complicated subplots.
In the late 1930s, Our Town playwright Thornton Wilder started to adapt the play for a modern audience, but died before he could complete the script, leaving it to modern playwright Ken Ludwig to complete the adaptation in 2004.
For her take on the production, Verwey set the action on a 19th — century Louisiana river boat, where childhood friends and ne’er-do-wells Archer and Aimwell (Cooper and Purcha) have come aboard disguised as a well-to-do lord and his manservant.
“We come up with this plot — this strategem — to go around ensnaring young heiresses,” Cooper said.
“In this day and age, you would get paid a dowry for marrying a young woman, so
we create identities, marry young women, and leave with the money.”
But, the pair gets more than they bargained for when they meet their fellow passengers, including Lady Bountiful, a would-be clairvoyant and doctor who specializes in making her patients’ ailments worse and the unhappily married Mrs. Sullen.
Their con goes further awry when Aimwell falls in love with the young lady they mean to swindle.
Ultimately, the play is saying marriage is really stupid. Marriage is a fool’s bet, but true love is worth almost dying for,” said Verwey.
Not enough action? The play also includes, in no particular order: Guns, baguettes used as swords, breast jokes, double entendres
and one humongous bed.
Though the humour can get a little racy, “it’s very broad too,” Verwey said.
The Beaux Strategem runs Feb. 27 to March 1 and March 6 to March 8 at 8 p.m. in the Old Main building at TRU.
Tickets are available through the Actors Workshop Theatre box office and Kamloops Live box office.
