Farce a top-flight way to escape winter blues
Boeing Boeing offers physical comedy, well-timed dialogue and a 1960s vibe
Physical comedy, fast-paced acting, and a little piece of the '60s are all coming in for a landing as part of Persephone Theatre's next mainstage show.
Boeing Boeing is a farce originally written in the 1960s by French playwright Marc Camoletti. The play revolves around bachelor Bernard, who is engaged to three different flight attendants he has carefully scheduled to keep apart — until newer, faster aircraft ends up landing them all at his Paris apartment at the same time.
The play premieres at Persephone Theatre on Feb. 27 in the Rawlco Radio Hall.
Gaelan Beatty, who plays Bernard, said the show really depends on two things as a farce: speed and timing.
“We have to keep the pace with the audience,” he said. “If we get behind, we're done. If we get ahead, we're done. We need to be right there with them the whole time.”
With seven doors onstage constantly opening and closing as characters come in and out of the scene, the comedy is propelled by the precision of the characters. Beatty said there's not really a deeper meaning or moral to leave the show with — unless “don't have three fiancees” is a moral, he joked — but rather that Boeing Boeing is a top-flight way to escape the wintry doldrums for a couple hours.
If you ground it in reality, I think the audience can become more invested. It won’t be just about slamming doors.
And despite Bernard being the point around which the plot revolves, Beatty said what gives the show life is the relationships between all the characters. From Bernard and his three flight attendant fiancees to his American friend Robert and his housekeeper Berthe, there is an interweaving of fun characters and quirks shared between different pairings that add another level to the farce.
“It is about finding those real moments of true connection,” he said. “(Bernard and his fiancees) each have a different spin, a different kiss ... I have to change my personality to counter each one, and that's the fun stuff.”
Barbara Barsky, who plays Bernard's long-suffering housekeeper Berthe, said because the show is (by its nature) an unrealistic setup, it's up to the performers to help build the story through their interactions with each other.
In the end, though, Barsky echoed Beatty's sentiment that speed and timing makes or breaks the quality of a farce like Boeing Boeing — but she also said the connection with audience is key.
“If you ground it in reality, I think the audience can become more invested,” she said. “It won't be just about slamming doors, although that is absolutely a big part of it.”
And when the actors set a quick tempo onstage, they have to be able to keep up with each other. As Beatty put it, it's all about “the next 30 seconds” onstage.
It can be a challenge to get in sync for a show this fast-paced — Barsky said the actors “don't all have the same heartbeat,” so it takes work to get there — but when it all comes together it makes for a spectacular show from a small cast.
“I think this offers, for want of a better expression, a little slice of summer in the middle of winter,” Barsky said.