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Don’t Dress For Dinner Page 1 Buffalo Theatre Ensemble September 8-October 9, 2016
Buffalo Theatre Ensemble
Presents
Don’t Dress For Dinner By Marc Camoletti
Translated by Robin Hawdon
Directed By Kurt Naebig+
Michael Moon+ (Scenic); Kimberly Morris (Costumes, Hair,
Make-up); Brad Sauper and Jillian Luce (Properties); Jon Gantt+
(Lighting); Galen Ramsey+ (Sound)
Featuring: Robert Jordan Bailey+, Connie Canaday Howard+,
Rebecca Cox, Nick DuFloth, Laura Leonardo-Ownby and Brad
Walker
+ Member of Buffalo Theatre Ensemble
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Characters Jacqueline
Bernard
Robert
Suzette
Suzanne
George
Beginning Designs
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Setting The main living-room of a country house some distance from Paris. Early evening. 1992.
Act One: Early evening
Act Two: Two hours later
Synopsis Don’t Dress For Dinner centers around Bernard and Jacqueline, a not-so-happily married
couple, both of whom are having extramarital affairs. As Jacqueline prepares to go out of
town to visit her mother, Bernard invites his mistress and Robert, his best friend (and also
Jacqueline’s lover, unbeknownst to Bernard), over for the weekend. He’s even hired a
Cordon Bleu chef to cater the evening.
Jacqueline discovers Robert is coming to town and cancels her trip, causing Bernard to
panic.
When Robert arrives, Bernard asks him to pretend Suzanne is Robert’s mistress. Robert
mistakes the chef (Suzette), for Bernard’s mistress (Suzanne), producing a highly
complicated dinner of hilarious hijinks, secret trysts and slapstick comedy.
http://www.broadway.com/shows/dont-dress-dinner/story/
Director’s Note Directing a play is an interesting proposition. Long before first rehearsal, the research
begins, directors go through the play line by line, moment by moment, thinking of how
the show should look, feel, sound, and what kind of emotions we want to stir in the
audience. Then we begin talking with and meeting with the designers so that we can
bounce ideas for costumes, set, lighting, and sound off each other. Soon the casting
process commences and the show really starts to form in the mind's eye of the
director…because now we can imagine real people inhabiting the world everyone has
created. And then finally the first day of rehearsal…
That’s when the real fun arrives. A farce is a difficult style for actors and directors to
work in…and yet the job of the director is a joyful one. Every rehearsal for a month is
packed with laughs. The director gets to witness every comedic and wonderful moment
as the actors create it. It’s as if we have been hired to laugh all night. There is such a
feeling of exuberance in the rehearsal room, and it floats us out the door late in the
evening.
Our hope is that this silly and fun show can bring some of that joy and exuberance to
your life this evening.
KN
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The Playwright
Type “Marc Camoletti” into any internet search engine and discover thousands of
productions of his plays, staged everywhere from dinner theaters in Lubbock, Texas to
the Mešt’anská beseda v Kopeckého in Pilsen, Czech Republic.
The international reach of Camoletti’s work—his forty plays have been translated into 18
languages and performed professionally in fifty-five countries—mirrors Camoletti’s
personal background. He was a French citizen, born on November 16, 1923 in Geneva,
Switzerland to a family of Italian background.
Camoletti’s paternal grandfather, also named Marc Camoletti, was a prominent architect
who designed Victoria Hall, a concert venue named in honor of Queen Victoria and
eventually donated to the city of Geneva by its owner. The elder Camoletti also designed
the Geneva Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, and the Hôtel des Postes du Mont-Blanc, all in
Geneva. Camoletti’s great uncle and cousins were also successful architects.
Camoletti initially trained as a painter. But by the early 1950s he was living and writing
in Paris, the city that would embrace his work and that he would call home for most of
his life. In 1955, he adapted and directed a play titled Isabella and the Pelican at the
Edward VII Theatre. In 1958, at the advanced (for a beginner playwright) age of 35, he
wrote his first play, La Bonne Anna (The Good Anna or Anna the Maid). It was produced
at the Théâtre des Capucines by a company affiliated with Camoletti’s wife, the theatrical
designer Germaine Camoletti. The production was a smash hit and ran for 1300
performances.
La Bonne Anna, like all of Camoletti’s forty plays, was a light comedy dealing with
themes of sex, relationships, and secrets. His work is often characterized as “boulevard
theatre,” a genre characterized by middlebrow sex comedies and named for Paris’s
Boulevard du Temple, location of many theaters. Georges Feydeau is the most notable
playwright of the style.
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Camoletti’s second—and most famous—play, Boeing-Boeing, opened in Paris on
December 10, 1960, and ran for 19 years. The English translation opened in London in
1962 and ran for seven years. The farce initially held less appeal for American
audiences—the original Broadway production lasted just 23 performances in 1965. But
the 2008 Broadway revival starring Mark Rylance and Christine Baranski fared better,
running for 279 performances, earning six Tony nominations and two Tony awards.
Boeing-Boeing now regularly appears at regional theaters across the country.
Camoletti followed up Boeing-Boeing with a string of successful shows, including
Sèmiramis in 1963, Secretissimo in 1965, La Bonne Adresse in 1966, and L’Amour
propre in 1968. In 1972, Camoletti and his wife took over management of Thèâtre
Michel, on Paris’s Rue des Mathurins.
Camoletti would produce and often direct his own work at Thèâtre Michel, beginning
with Duos sur canape in 1974. Bon Anniversaire followed in 1976, On dînera au lit in
1980, and Le Bluffeur in 1984. In 1987, Pyjama pour six, a sequel to Boeing-Boeing,
opened at the Theatre Michel. The English translation, retitled Don’t Dress for Dinner,
opened in London in 1991 and ran for six years. (The German translation, Snutensnack
un Lögenpack, has also proven popular.)
Camoletti continued to write, produce, and direct at the Thèâtre Michel throughout the
1980s and 1990s. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor, one of France’s highest
honors.
Camoletti passed away on July 18, 2003. He is buried with his wife, who passed away in
1994, in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. From the time of Camoletti’s death in 2003
through 2008, Camoletti’s son Jean Christophe and daughter-in-law Arianne managed
Thèâtre Michel.
http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/Roundabout/media/Roundabout/PDF/UPSTAGE/DontDress_Upstage_web-revised-4-16-12.pdf
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Adaptor
For two decades Robin was a successful actor, whilst plying a concurrent trade as a
playwright. In his early twenties his face became well known to British television viewers
through regular appearances in such series as ‘Compact’, ‘Flying Swan’, ‘Robin’s Nest’,
etc. He later co-starred with Michael Crawford in the ITV sit-com ‘Chalk and Cheese’.
He made a number of films, going on to star in ‘When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth’ and
‘Zeta One’. On stage Robin was seen in several leading roles in London’s West End, and
also played a number of classical leads around the country, such as Hamlet, Henry V and
Henry Higgins in ‘Pygmalion’.
At the same time his career as a writer progressed. His early plays BARN DANCE, THE
SECRET and THE HERO were seen at such venues as the Hampstead Theatre and the
Edinburgh and Salzburg festivals, and his first major commercial success, THE
MATING GAME achieved a long run at London’s Apollo Theatre, and has subsequently
played in over thirty countries around the world. This was followed by other much
performed and published plays such as BIRTHDAY SUITE, REVENGE, DON’T ROCK
THE BOAT and PERFECT WEDDING, and the huge success of DON’T DRESS FOR
DINNER (based on an early French play by Marc Camoletti) which ran in the West End
for six years, and has played all over America, Australia, Canada and the English
speaking world.
More recently his play GOD AND STEPHEN HAWKING, about the phenomenal
advance of modern science and its effect on traditional philosophical thinking, caused
something of a stir in the national press when Stephen Hawking himself took objection to
being portrayed on stage, despite the fact that the play was seen by most people as a
tribute to his extraordinary life and career. That play has now been published by Josef
Weinberger.
Robin has also directed a number of stage productions, and in the nineteen eighties
founded the Bath Fringe festival, and subsequently became Director of the Theatre Royal
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Bath, England’s premier touring theatre. His first novel A RUSTLE IN THE GRASS was
published by Hutchinsons in 1984 and by Dodd Mead in the US, and sold some sixty
thousand copies. His second book THE JOURNEY was published by Hawthorn’s in
2002. A third novel, SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, is newly published by SBPRA (see
under novels).
Robin’s wife of over forty years, Sheila, is a psychotherapist and writer. They have two
daughters, four grand children, and homes in Bath, the South of France and Australia.
http://www.robinhawdon.com/about.html
Farce and Physical Humor
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy that aims at entertaining the audience through situations
that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, and thus improbable. Farces are often highly
incomprehensible plot-wise (due to the many plot twists and random events that occur),
but viewers are encouraged not to try to follow the plot in order to avoid becoming
confused and overwhelmed. Farce is also characterized by physical humor the use of
deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances. Farces have been
written for the stage and film. Furthermore, a farce is also often set in one particular
location, where all events occur.
Physical Comedy
Physical comedy, whether conveyed by a pratfall (landing on the buttocks), a silly face,
or the action of walking into walls, is a common and rarely subtle form of comedy. It is a
clownish exploitation of movement, the most primordial human medium of expression,
which predates language and the introduction of verbal humor such as cultural tradition,
erudition and word puns. Often sitcoms will incorporate such movements into the scenes
but may not rely on it exclusively to forward the story. Often it will be used as comic
relief especially during more serious or intimate scenes.
Buster Keaton, The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Benny Hill, Lucille Ball, Martin
Short, Carol Burnett, Chevy Chase, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, Chris Farley, John Ritter's
character Jack Tripper on Three's Company, Jim Carrey's titular character in The Mask,
Michael Richards's character Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld, and Rowan Atkinson's
character Mr. Bean are all examples of comedians who employ physical comedy as a
medium for their characters. Charlie Chaplin started his film career as a physical
comedian; although he developed additional means of comic expression, Chaplin's
mature works continued to contain elements of slapstick. Slapstick elements include the
trip, the slip, the double take, the collide, the fall (faint) and the roar.
There are many styles and types of physical comedy, but mimes and clowns are both
great sources to study because they tend to use physical comedy as their main form of
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storytelling through actions. They must set up their storyline, develop the story, and sell
the punch line many times entirely through the body. Well-known comedian Rowan
Atkinson is probably best known for his physical humor. His character, Mr. Bean, never
needed to say real words, just sounds, and he has created so many iconic moments of
physical comedy, including getting a turkey stuck on his head and changing from a dress
suit into a swimsuit, all while wearing a men’s dress suit, (you need to see it to believe
it).
Absurdity
An absurdity is a thing that is extremely unreasonable, so as to be foolish or not taken
seriously, or the state of being so. "Absurd" is an adjective used to describe an absurdity,
e.g., "this encyclopedia article is absurd”. It derives from the Latin absurdum meaning
"out of tune", hence irrational. The Latin surdus means "deaf", implying stupidity.
Absurdity is contrasted with seriousness in reasoning. In general usage, absurdity may be
synonymous with ridiculousness and nonsense. In specialized usage, absurdity is related
to extremes in bad reasoning or pointlessness in reasoning; ridiculousness is related to
extremes of incongruous juxtaposition, laughter, and ridicule; and nonsense is related to a
lack of meaningfulness.
Don’t Dress For Dinner is a true farce! This fast paced tale includes all of the above. The
storyline is certainly absurd (characters are all involved in an affair that entangles
everyone’s lives), and the plot, at times, can be confusing (two characters named Suzy!).
The events are improbable and the script is rampant with physical comedy (the pesky
imaginary insects, plenty of stair tripping, and a plethora of overdramatic entrances and
exits). The entire show takes place at Bernard and Jacqueline’s home.
Sean Foley, a British theatre director, writer, comedian and actor describes farce
brilliantly:
"In a way, farce is the most purely theatrical form. There's a visceral, palpable sense that
this thing is happening live in front of you. And when the wardrobe falls on someone's
head or someone stubs their toe – and maybe they really are stubbing their toe, night after
night – it's exciting for an audience. That's why it feels so live and dangerous." “The risk
comes largely from the extreme pace farce demands. A phrase I end up using a lot in
rehearsal is, 'I need to see you acting, I don't need to see you thinking.' People are
confronted with a situation and they react – 'Oh my God, there's a policeman coming
through the door.' Technically, farce is about taking away all the thinking time, not only
from the characters but also from the audience. We never drop into a zone where things
are being considered – they are just happening." "The wonderful paradox of farce," he
says, "is that there's a double image going on onstage. At the same time as we are
laughing at the incompetence of the characters, we are aware of the deep expertise of the
performers. And that is a very theatrical vibe."
http://www.wctlive.ca/docs/study_guide-don_t_dress_for_dinner.pdf
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Things to think about prior to the performance:
1. The set created by Michael Moon is unique looking. Why do you think the house
has such a peculiar configuration? Why the large rafters?
2. Why is physical humor so fun to watch? Why do we take pleasure in other
peoples’ pain?
Things to watch for in Performance:
1. Many people tell lies to cover their tracks in this show. Which character tells the
most lies? Do any of the lies told help anyone? If so, which ones do this?
2. How are specific props used to aid in the comedy of the show? Can a prop be
funny?
3. The cook, Suzette, asks for money every time she has to lie and tell a new story.
How many francs does she receive from Robert and Bernard by the end of the
show?
Things to think about after the performance: 1. After seeing the production, why do you think the play has been so successful?
2. Farces are often set in one location. Don’t Dress For Dinner follows this loose
rule. Why would the playwright and original set designer choose to set this in one
location? What are the benefits?
3. Discuss the characters. How did they differ? What made each of them uniquely
funny?
Other Analysis “Tools”: 1. What happens in the very last moments of the play? Certainly, the last few
minutes, but, more importantly, the last thirty seconds? In that time, what
happens or is said, and what does that say about what the play is ‘about’?
2. What is the significance of the title? Why did Marc Camoletti decide that this
was the most quintessential title for his work?
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The running time for this production is approximately 2 hours with one
15 minute intermission. Thursday: September 8, 15, 22, 29 and Oct. 6 and 28; Friday: September 9, 16, 23, 30
and Oct. 7; Saturday: September 10, 17, 24, and Oct. 1 and 8; Sunday: September 11, 18,
25, and Oct. 2 and 9. (Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8p, except September 17 and
30, which have 8:30p starts; Sundays at 3p)
Please note the pre-show discussion will take place prior to the preview performance,
Thursday, September 8, in MAC 140 from 6:45 pm – 7:15 pm. The pre-show
discussion will include the director and designers, and will be a discussion of the
approach to this production.
The post-show discussion will take place on September 16, following the
performance. The post-show will include the director, cast and crew who will answer
questions from the audience.
This performance takes place in the Playhouse of the MAC.
