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Even before she speaks—with that wonderfully trained voice capable of carrying the most intimate expressions to the back of the room—her bearing, her energy and her aura of perfumed glamour reveal Diana Marbury as a woman with theater in her blood.
On this spring day less than a week before the May 27 opening in Quogue of the Hampton Theatre Company’s production of Alan Ayckbourn’s “Bedroom Farce,” she arrives for an interview clearly stressed out but ever so entertainingly so.
There is still so much to be done, she says, offering a litany of tasks that have her dashing thither and yon and rolling her eyes. There are drapes to hang on the set, props to gather and untold details that must be checked and rechecked before the curtain goes up. Not to mention the demands of Ms. Marbury’s own role as Delia in this comedy from the 1970s involving four couples, three bedrooms and a hilarious but rather unvarnished take on the institution of marriage.
Staged once before when the company was young, “Bedroom Farce” is the fourth and final production of this, the HTC’s busy 25th-anniversary season. Originally directed in HTC’s early days by one of the company’s founders, James Ewing, the comedy is one of several plays that Ms. Marbury said warranted revisiting now that the company’s audiences and resources have expanded so dramatically. The playwright, Alan Ayckbourn, is a favorite with the company, which has also staged his “Absurd Person Singular” and “How the Other Half Loves.”
“We just find that he’s such a funny writer,” said Ms. Marbury, who regrets the changes in taste that, in her view, have produced a style of comedy today that is “almost cruel. It doesn’t have the same lightheartedness, the setting up of funny situations.”
Mr. Ayckbourn, who has often been called the British Neil Simon, remains outside that trend and has the added advantage of being very well known.
“We like to represent writers that are really known,” said Ms. Marbury, “because it does bring in audiences.” Of course, she added, “the reason they are known is because they write good plays.”
Squeezing three bedrooms onto the narrow stage at Quogue Community Hall was no easy task, according to Ms. Marbury, but the three beds have been made and await their occupants: Delia (Ms. Marbury) and Ernest (George Loizides), who are older and have been married forever; Trevor (Peter Connolly), their son, and his wife, Susannah (Stephanie Nieman); Jan, Trevor’s old girlfriend (Rebecca Edana), and her husband, Nick (Paul Bolger); and the youngest couple, Malcolm (James Patrick Cronin) and Kate (Kristi Artinian).
It is Trevor who wreaks havoc on all four marriages in one evening, a clueless catalyst of catastrophe who manages to bring out the hilarious worst in the others.
Reflecting on her time with the company, Ms. Marbury recalled that it was a friend who first told her about the fledgling theater group 25 years ago and suggested that it might provide an outlet for acting skills honed in Hollywood and in New York, where she had studied with Uta Hagen and appeared Off-Broadway.
Having put those skills aside after moving to eastern Long Island to raise a family with her husband, Peter, who died last year, she said she had been feeling marooned “in the middle of the boondocks” when her friend threw her the lifeline that was HTC, which started out under another name, Westhampton Community Theatre.
Back then, HTC “was just a group of people who wanted to make theater,” recalled Ms. Marbury, though she said most had received some training.
“I got involved,” she said, “and I loved everybody else who was involved.” At that point, she added, Mr. Ewing was doing all the directing and operations were pretty much “all volunteer.”
Looking back, Ms. Marbury spoke of “enormous” changes since those early days, when she said a show’s budget might have been as low as $400 and if there were 35 people in the audience, “that would have been a lot.”
As one of the first big changes, Ms. Marbury cited the arrival of Jane Stanton, a professional director brought in through the generosity of HTC patron and occasional actor Edith Larkin.
“That really kicked it up a notch,” said Ms. Marbury.
The recruiting of artist Peter Marbury, who was convinced by his wife to “help out a little here and there,” and ended up creating with Mr. Ewing the extraordinary sets that have set a new standard, was another important development. Then when Sarah Hunnewell, who is directing the current production of “Bedroom Farce,” joined HTC in 1990 and became executive director in the late ’90s, the company made another big leap.
“Sarah brought a lot of polish to the company,” said Ms. Marbury, “building it up from low-budget to one that could afford to do more with sets, actors, costumes. Now the company is hardly recognizable, although many of the same people are still with us.”
“Bedroom Farce” has presented the usual set of problems—hard-to-find props, a “trick table” that had the carpentry crew temporarily flummoxed, and the recent flooding that ruined an art work Ms. Marbury had been counting on for the set.
“But it’s a fun play,” said Ms. Marbury, her stress momentarily forgotten, “and it’s been so enjoyable working with these young people.”
“Bedroom Farce” runs at Quogue Community Hall, 126 Jessup Avenue, from May 27 to June 13, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $25; $23 for seniors and $10 for students, except Saturdays. Reservations may be made at www.hamptontheatre.org or by calling 1-866-811-4111; information at 631-653-8955.
on May 25, 2010