British farce
‘See how they Run’
opens Snow season
By Max Higbee
Staff writer
Sept. 28, 2017
EPHRAIM—“See How They Run,” a British farce about mistaken identity, Anglican clergy and wanton drunkenness, is showing at the Eccles Center through Saturday.
The cast and crew have rehearsed the show since the beginning of the school year, memorizing lines, staging scenes and building sets.
“’See How They Run’ is a fun show, and that’s what drew me,” says Brad Olsen, theatre professor at Snow College and director of the play. “I just like when it’s a comic piece, it being a farce, which means it’s full of improbabilities… There’s one scene where a lady knocks a guy out with a toilet plunger.”
The play takes place in England in the 1940s, in the countryside village of Merton-cum-Middlewick. World War II has brought fear of Nazi invasion to the village, and the people are preparing for an invasion, but not at the cost of stopping their own small town drama.
As an aged actress seeks to expose what she suspects is an affair by the town vicar’s wife, an escaped German POW makes his way to town, all while the grandiose bishop of Lax visits the town vicarage. Intrigue and comedy ensue.
The play is performed in a box set. “We haven’t done a box set in almost two years,” Olsen says. “It looks good; we’ve got a really good production team. The designs are really nice. It’s been built well.”
The set is one level with two steps leading up to it. There are a lot of doors. And, Olsen says, a lot of action occurs offstage, but the audience gets to see it, which is unusual. “The garden doors, we leave them open, there’s a lot of capering in the garden, which is a fun bit,” he says.
Corbin Cantrell, a Snow student who plays a policeman in the show, says, “[People] should come if they like comedy, if they like seeing people get hit a lot, if they like a lot of running, a lot of physical comedy and a lot of laughs.”
Olsen advises patrons to try to get seats in the middle section. “It’s a little bit better,” he says.
“See How They Run” opened Wednesday and continues tonight, Friday and Saturday. All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults, $7 for youth (5-18), and $2 for seniors (65 and older) and Snow students with IDs.
