Comic Potential Continues WVU’s Spring Theatre Season

by Professor James D. Held

Comic Potential by Alan Ayckbourn takes the stage of West Virginia
University’s Gladys G. Davis Theatre beginning February 27 and
running through March 9. Ayckbourn has been referred to as the Neil
Simon of England, though others would suggest that his work is deeper and more cerebral than that of Simon, arguably America’s most successful comic writer. To date, Ayckbourn has written 70 plays,
many of them great successes in London and New York, not to mention in innumerable regional and community theaters.

Sir Alan Ayckbourn was born in London in 1939. It was his good
fortune to team with Stephen Joseph, founder of the Stephen Joseph
Theatre in Scarborough. Most of his plays have been premiered at
this theatre, where he has been artistic director since 1972.
Ayckbourn has acted in and directed numerous productions in addition to writing. In 1958, complaining about the lack of decent roles, Ayckbourn was challenged by Stephen Joseph to write his own roles. The result was The Square Cat that became a great hit in 1959,
followed by Love After All later that same year. The rest, as they
say, is history—a lot of it. Over half of Ayckbourn’s work has
been performed by the National Theatre and West End, London theaters.

Many have crossed the Atlantic to success on Broadway. Since 1977,
Ayckbourn has directed all of the West End productions of his plays.
Among his greatest hits are The Norman Conquests, a trilogy,
Relatively Speaking, Absurd Person Singular, a hilarious look at 3
couples grappling with their middle-class lives on three successive
Christmas eves, and Private Fears in Public Places, which became a
hit of the Broadway season in 2005. Although Ayckbourn also writes
plays for children, his work is most known for its examination of
middle-class manners and morals.

Comic Potential has become one of Ayckbourn’s most popular and
enduring comedies about the nature of what it means to be human and what it means to love another person. Imagine this scenario: in the future, television producers are employing robots known as
“actoids” in place of live actors. If this sounds familiar, have
you noticed what’s been happening to the movies since the advent of
CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) Into this futuristic TV studio
comes a once-fine film director, down on his luck and at the end of
his tether emotionally and artistically. He is confronted by one
particular actoid who seems to be developing a sense of humor,
laughing at awkward points as a soap opera scene is attempted. Add
to this the young, idealistic nephew of the eccentric (and very old)
head of the TV Corporation, a lad who aspires to be a writer and who
idolizes the has-been director.

About the inspiration for this play, Ayckbourn said: “I wanted to
write a play about the nature of being human, and so I came up with
this Pygmalionesque story about a boy who falls in love with an
android. I don't specify the time, but it's probably closer than we
think. I think there are two things that separate us from the animals
- the ability to fall in love and a sense of humor, and it's no
coincidence that the two are so closely linked.”

Yes, the young man, Adam, falls in love with the actoid, Jacie and
runs off with her, only to be confronted with the realities of her
machine qualities and his naiveté about how the world will react to
this impossible affair. The play takes the audience from the TV
studio to various hotel and boutique locations as the electronics
people, the director, the snide and dangerous Regional Director
(enamored of Adam), and the actoids themselves work their way through Ayckbourn’s ingenious and somehow prophetic plot twists. The dialogue is crisp and funny, the action is a romp, the characters,
well… some are fleshed out and some are circuit boards and wiring,
but all are well-crafted. In Ayckbounr’s words: “We are one of
the rare species who have a sense of humour. We're also a species who falls in love for intentions other than procreation and I wonder if
the two aren't related in some way. There are some cynics who say
there is no love unless it's sexual but I don't believe that. There
is love on all sorts of levels."

Our production of Comic Potential is directed by Phillip Beck,
coordinator of the Acting Program and a regular director for the
Division of Theatre and Dance as well as the Greenbriar Valley
Theatre, where he is also a company actor during the summer season. Prof. Beck said this play particularly intrigued him because of its funny, yet poignant examination of what it means to be human, what it means to be in love. His cast of student actors includes both
graduate and undergraduate members of the acting program. For some, this production will be their final opportunity to entertain local
audiences before graduation in May.

Comic Potential is sure to strike the funny bone of every audience
member, causing continuous laughter and not a few groans as we
recognize those all-too-human traits being explored by the actoid
characters and consider whether this future is our future or if this
vision of the future is already here one way or another.

The play will open its run in the Gladys G. Davis Theatre of the
Creative Arts Center on February 27 (preview) and then play February
28, 29, March 1,4,5,6,7,8 at 7:30 PM and March 2 and 9 at 2:00 PM.
Tickets may be ordered by calling 293-SHOW (7469), at the
Mountainlair or Creative Arts Center Box Offices or at Ticketmaster
outlets.

Artistic Staff:
Director: Prof. Phillip Beck
Scene Designer: Diana Wright
Costume Designer: Anna Hines
Lighting Designer: Prof. Jason Banks
Stage Manager: Rocky Love

Cast:
Adam Trainsmith Vance Barber
Chandler Tate Alex Pawlowski
Lester Transmith John Harper
Man in Dress Shop John Harper
Doctor/Farmer/Turkey Dan Stevens
Son/Hotel Waiter/Tech Mike Custer
Marmion/Hotel Clerk/Waiter Mike Baker
Jacie Triplethree Denice Burbach
Trudi Floote Melissa Allen
Prim Spring Emma Hardesty
Carla Pepperbloom Liza Skinner
Prostitute/Carla’s PA Jordan Estel
Mother/Farmer’s Wife/
Dress Shop Ass’t Jennifer Cooper Pritchard
Girl in Dress Shop & Restaurant Samantha Clay

Scenes:
Act I: Scene One: The TV Studio
Scene Two: The Same
Scene Three: The Same

Act II: Scene One: The TV Studio
Scene One: The foyer of the Grand Hotel.
Scene Three: The Studio
Scene Four: The Hotel Boutique.
Scene Five: The Studio
Scene Six: The Hotel Restaurant
Scene Seven: The Studio.
Scene Eight: The hotel bedroom.
Scene Nine: A sleazy hotel room.
Scene Ten: The Studio.

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