Abigail Dunagan, Campus Carrier arts and living editor
What do you get when you combine romance, murder and a large monetary inheritance? Berry College’s very own production of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.” From laugh-out-loud comedies to heavy hitting think-pieces, the Berry College Theatre Company (BCTC) works to perform a variety of shows each year. This coming week the production of, “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” will be opening on April 4 and showing through April 7. The musical comedy follows the story of Monty Navarro as he finds out that he is in line to inherit a large amount of money. In order to inherit this money, Navarro must find a way to get rid of all nine members of the D’Ysquith family that stand in between him and his prize. The story was originally based on the 1907 novel titled “Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal” by Roy Horniman and first opened on Broadway in 2013.
Junior Jake Patton is the stage manager of this production, and he attends every rehearsal to assist with the production. Patton worked as an assistant stage manager of the musical “Chicago” his freshman year and has also performed in other BCTC shows. The design meetings for this show began as soon as the previous show closed in the fall semester, and Patton worked on a two-week process to prepare his script. As a stage manager, he has to keep track of all stage production, and he also worked to design a logo.
“Normally, we do our two shows in the fall, and we do one musical in the Spring,” Patton said. “A musical is a bigger time commitment, and it is usually a lot heavier scenery and tech-wise, so we don’t have time to do another show.”
According to Patton, the scenic designer for this production currently lives in New York. All of the design meetings have had to take place over zoom. Despite this challenge, everything is moving on track for opening night.
“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” is a musical and comedy. Rehearsals for the show take place Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. -10 p.m.
“I would say the hardest part is the scene changes with everything,” Patton said. “Just because it changes locations so many times, and it is heavily different each scene. Nothing really stays the same.”
Junior Mary Claire Page will be playing the role of the character Sibella Hallward, who is a love interest of Monty Navarro. Page got involved in the show as a part of her theater major and has worked with the director Scott Willis on previous shows at Berry. Rehearsals take place every Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and began in early February. Page said that they first started by learning the music, and now they are able to rehearse the entire show in one go.
“I am very excited for people to come see it,” Page said. “The audience brings in a new life to a show when they are there, so we are super excited for people to come see it.”
Senior Mathew Becher is playing the roles of the D’Ysquith family. This role involves playing a total of nine different characters, each of whom are killed off by Monty in his quest to obtain his inheritance. This role is typically played by one actor, and these characters go from scene to scene in very short time intervals. According to Becher, one of the biggest challenges in this role has been being able to complete the many costume changes between each scene.
Senior Mathew Becher will be playing the nine roles of the D’Ysquith family. This role allows Becher to experiment with a variety of character archetypes.
“My role does include me playing a different gender, playing two women and seven men,” Becher said. “It also just offers me plenty of opportunity to experiment with different voices, physiques and character choices. It is really sort of a buffet of different archetypes that you could see in various productions.”
“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” is an exciting production with a wide range of set changes, costume changes and dynamic characters. The performances will take place April 4-6 at 7 p.m., and on April 7 at 2 p.m. at the Sisters Theatre. Tickets are $7 and can be purchased online at berry.edu/onstage.
“I know that people are going to enjoy the show,” Becher said. “It’s a spectacular cast, and I’ve had an absolute blast working with them. I think that our efforts are going to really pay off to something truly spectacular.”