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Lebanon Theatre steps up the laughs in ‘Taking Steps’

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By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer 3:06 PM Wednesday, May 27, 2009

While most directors are supposed to encourage camaraderie in their cast, Jhon Marshall demands quite the opposite. “If someone passes me by, it’s hard not to take notice,” said actor Terry Gosdin. “But Jhon makes sure we don’t pay them any attention.

Marshall is not demanding a heightened level of rudeness from his cast. Instead, he is enforcing the conventions of “Taking Steps,” the newest production from the Lebanon Theatre Company.

The production will be performed June 6, 7, 12, 13, 14 at the Lebanon Theatre Company, 120 East South St., Lebanon.

Even though the story takes place in a three-story mansion, the play was written so all three stories of the house are built on a single level, divided only by how far back on the stage each level is placed.

“It’s quite complex, but it all works well together,” Gosdin said.

“Taking Steps” is a classic British farce filled with mistaken identities, humorous coincidences and lots of slamming doors and rushing between rooms. The play focuses on a hard-drinking tycoon considering buying an English mansion. During an evening stay, he, his wife, her brother, and his fiance attempt to sort themselves out, with hilarious results.

“The playwright, Alan Ayckbourn, always trusted his audience to be able to figure out what was going on,” Marshall said of the somewhat confusing set.

Marshall said the play’s layout adds visual jokes to the story as the audience will know far more about what’s going on than the actors.

“It can be exhausting,” said David Vanderhorst, who plays hapless solicitor Tristram Watson. “My character stutters throughout the play so I have to find the times to stutter and know when to look and not look at people. I’m thinking the entire time.”

Despite its somewhat confusing conceit, Vanderhorst said the audience will enjoy the humor of the play.

“There are a lot of small jokes,” Vanderhorst said. “It’s a play that rewards you for paying attention.”

“Visually, there’s a lot going on,” said Cindy Williams, who plays Kitty, fiancee to the mansion’s potential buyer. “It’s hard to remember where the walls are supposed to be.”

Williams said her character has less concerns because she spends much of the play locked in a closet.

The hardest part is making sure people stay busy but don’t steal the focus from the key action,” Marshall said. “Taking Steps” is Marshall’s fifth production with the Lebanon Theatre Company as either an actor or director.

“The play really is a lot of fun,” Gosdin said. “It’s all people charging up and down stairs and slamming doors. It’s all silliness.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4544 or jmcclelland@coxohio.com.