Delighted to announce that our Spring 2023 production will be The Philadelphia Story.
We are fortunate to have a director new to the Players, John Timewell, well-known for the Garden Players’ Shakespeare productions and for numerous musicals for HAODS and other societies.
Readings will be held on 8th and 10th November in Harpsden Hall from 8.00p.m. The first audition will be on 15th November (also at 8.00p.m.) and a potential second one has been booked for 22nd November as the cast is quite large. Rehearsals will not start till after the Christmas holidays. The theatre is booked from 19th-25th March, and the playing dates will be 22nd-25th. March.
Synopsis
Philip Barry’s sparkling comedy The Philadelphia Story is a compelling mixture of wit, satire and romance which explores family relationships, class prejudice and human weakness. Wealthy, proud and beautiful, Tracy Lord is about to get married for the second time to her stuffy fiancé George Kittredge. But she hasn’t counted on Mike Connor, a principled reporter reluctantly working for a gossip weekly who has been sent to cover her wedding, and her quick-thinking, roguish first husband C. K. Dexter Haven. The presence of both men at her pre-nuptial party, a drunken midnight swim and champagne-addled declarations, forces Tracy to learn some painful lessons which knock her off her pedestal.
The Philadelphia Story was memorably filmed 1940, with James Stewart and Cary Grant starring alongside Katherine Hepburn. The musical version by Cole Porter, filmed as High Society, had Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in the leading roles.
Characters
Dinah – Mid-teenage sister to Tracy. Intelligent and precocious.
Tracy Lord – Rich, haughty and strong willed. Divorced from C.K. Dexter Haven and about to marry George Ketteridge.
Margaret Lord – Mother of Tracy, Dinah and Sandy. Wife of Seth Lord.
Sandy Lord – Brother of Tracy. Trying to avert a family scandal being reported in the papers.
Uncle Willie – Kind hearted uncle of Tracy who likes a drink and is very flirtatious.
Mike Connor – Quality writer slumming it with a gossip publication to earn money. Strong working class principles who disapproves of the rich.
Liz Imbrie – Photographer working with Mike.
George Kitteridge – Self-made millionaire who comes from humble beginnings. Very ambitious and wants to marry into high society.
C.K. Dexter Haven – Wealthy and privileged, he comes from the same background as Tracy and was her first husband.
Seth Lord – Father of Tracy, Sandy and Dinah and husband to Margaret. Is having an affair with a young dancer, a scandal which Sandy is trying to prevent being made public.
Thomas/Elsie – An amalgam of 5 small servant roles