Don’t Mention The War

I’ve gotten involved in something recently that I’ve wanted to do for years but never made the decision to actually do it: I auditioned for a play. A little background…

My wife and children went to see Oliver right before Christmas last year at the local community theater. Advertised at the theater was a new play coming up next which was a rendition of three episodes of the famous British comedy in the 70s, Fawlty Towers. My wife, knowing how I speak in character accents all over the house all the time (much to the chagrin of my family at times) and how much I enjoy British humor, thought it would be a perfect opportunity to finally do what I always said I’d wanted to do. I sort of surprised myself when I immediately agreed and put it on my calendar.

Well, I don’t really have a calendar per se, but what I mean to say is that my wife put it on her calendar, which is essentially the same thing.

Now, the first person in my life that I ever remember using a British accent was my dad, who happened to grow up there for a good part of his formative years – even graduating from high school there. I used to (try to) emulate him a lot. It was through him and his love of shows like Monty Python that I grew to love Monty Python and British entertainment in general. (Gargantuan Beatles fan here…) Because of all this, he was the first person I called and asked if he’d be interested in joining me for the audition and he could try out himself! He agreed without hesitation, and we were set.

At any rate, when my wife mentioned Fawlty Towers, I remembered it vaguely, but certainly couldn’t quote lines from it, and I can quote lines from everything I like. However, I did know it was John Cleese, and loving him from just about everything I’d ever seen him in, I was pretty sure I’d love Fawlty Towers too. I couldn’t have been more right. I hungrily watched the episodes on Netflix, paying attention to all sorts of little details. I was hooked and knew that it was going to be a fun time.

Well, the audition happened and luckily the director didn’t mind taking a chance on two actors who’d never been on stage before – we both got parts!

Uh oh. What the heck did we get ourselves into..?

Backstory Part 2: A few years ago I helped backstage at my daughter’s ballet school’s rendition of The Nutcracker, which was an absolute blast. However, aside from that and various elementary school functions, uhm, a few years ago, I was clueless about what to do or how to really act. I was up for the challenge though, and was out there to have fun. My brother had done several plays a few years ago, and I enjoyed seeing him have fun on stage, thinking, “I’d love to do that! He’s just acting like we always act around each other!”

Side note: We’re aces at charades, or any game whatsoever where you have to act out the answer. Don’t even try to play us. You will lose.

The other day I was talking to my 8 year old son (who also managed to snag a role in the play!) about performing, and I remembered all of a sudden that I once recited a poem on stage in a poetry contest…in a British accent! I remember my dad suggesting to me to do it in an accent. Though initially nervous about it, I went with it and never regretted it. Anyway, as luck would have it, I managed to have that old VHS tape backed up so I could easily show him. Ironically, this was the last time I was on stage ‘performing’ anything, and it was with a British accent. Now, 10 20, Sigh…27 holy-cow-I’m-old years later, I’m back on stage again doing a British accent.

Tonight is our opening night and I’m thrilled to be a part of it all. The cast has been wonderful, the rehearsals fun, and the experience can’t be expressed positively enough. Plus, it’s been neat to have 3 generations of our family in the same production. (Not only that, but there’s even another 3-generation family in the play! How unique is that?!) It’s certainly a far cry from doing those annual poetry contents in elementary school! Speaking of that, I’m including the original poetry contest snippet below. Also, here is a link to the poem I recited. Thankfully my accents have gotten a bit better than this…but I did still manage to nab first place that year! Enjoy!