NEW LONDON — Last year, New London Barn Playhouse’s season favored plays packed with plenty of drama and high stakes, such as the rock musical “Rent” and “Jersey Boys,” a documentary-style production following the rise and fall of the 1960s band The Four Seasons.
By contrast, this season’s slate features such comedies as “Sister Act” and “Hairspray,” a bawdy musical in which racial justice and body positivity intermingle, rather unexpectedly, in 1960s Baltimore, which wraps this Sunday.
That comedic bent continues next week with the Barn Playhouse’s upcoming production of “The Cottage,” a farce about two adulterous couples whose misdeeds surface at an estate in the English countryside.
“Keith Coughlin (the company’s executive artistic director) and I are always looking for shows that combine sharp writing and big laughs,” Elliott Cunningham, the Barn Playhouse’s managing director, said over email.
Set in 1923, the play’s comedy of errors begins when one of characters, Sylvia, decides to reveal her affair to her husband, Clarke, and her lover’s wife, Marjorie, only to discover that the spouses are engaged in a romance of their own. Chaos ensues from there, one provocative joke at a time.
“The Cottage” marks director Jeff Whiting’s return to the Barn Playhouse. In 2019, he directed the company’s production of “Catch Me If You Can,” a musical whose script borrows greatly from the 2002 crime comedy about the true story of a young con artist (an early starring role for Leonardo DiCaprio) who spent years outrunning the FBI.
All but one in the cast of eight are returning actors to the New London company, Whiting said.
Based in New York, Whiting’s theater experience includes half-a-dozen credits on Broadway productions. Though the Barn’s stage is far smaller than Broadway’s, the size lends itself to the play’s contained setting and intimate cast, Whiting said in a phone interview.
“Jeff brings an incredible eye for detail and a gift for physical comedy, two qualities essential for farce,” Cunningham said.
For a farce such as “The Cottage,” getting the story across and maintaining the pace of the show are chief among his goals, Whiting said.
“Farce moves really quickly, so rhythm is very important while directing,” he said.
First produced in 2013 at the Astoria Performing Arts Center in Queens, “The Cottage” made its Broadway debut two years ago at the Hayes Theater.
While the play is set in the English countryside and borrows heavily from British farces such as Michael Frayn’s “Noises Off,” a frenetic tale about a theater production that goes horribly awry, its playwright, Sandy Rustin, is American.
Whiting noted that the play’s characters often reflect the stereotypical traits Americans tend to associate with the British upper class of the 1920s. The physical humor and raunchy elements of the play feel designed for an American audience, he said.
With that in mind, “The Cottage” reads like a kind of American interpretation of a distinctly British type of comedy, which maybe says something about our ongoing preoccupation with English humor, be it in the form of a Monty Python sketch or the tongue-in-cheek monologues on “The Great British Bake Off.”
But beneath the slamming doors and endless quips, there’s a more serious message that Whiting hopes comes across in the Barn’s production.
As the characters are confronted with the errors of their ways, they’re forced to ask themselves what they really want out of life and relationships.
“These are questions that are relevant to our lives today,” he said.
New London Barn Playhouse’s production of “The Cottage” runs from Aug. 20 through Aug. 31. For tickets ($34-$59) and more information, visit nlbarn.org or call 603-526-6710.
Strumming on the lawn
Vermont-based singer-songwriter Jay Nash will perform in Pentangle Arts’ Music by the River series this Friday at East End Park in Woodstock. With stripped-back instrumentation and self-questioning lyrics, Nash’s work pulls inspiration from guitarists such as John Mayer and Eric Clapton. The 6 p.m. concert is free and open to the public. For more information, visit pentanglearts.org or call 802-457-3981.
Organ-playing in Orford
This Sunday, the Orford Historical Society will host an antique pipe organ concert featuring three musicians at 1:30 p.m. at the United Congregational Church on the town’s Main Street. The organ is the oldest working church organ in New Hampshire, according to the historical society’s website. Sunday’s concert is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the historical society’s website at orfordhistory.org.
Barnard bash
Looking ahead to next weekend, the Barnard Street Dance will kick off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23 with boat races at Silver Lake State Park and an open mic at the Barnard Town Hall. Other festivities include a contra dance with music provided by Upper Valley band Blind Squirrel and a performance by Pointe Noir Cajun Band, of Montpelier, at 5:30 p.m. Haitian and Jamaican food and maple creemees will be for sale as well.
The daylong event is free, but patrons are encouraged to donate to the Street Dance Fund and sign up for the online auction to win gift cards to White River Junction wine shop Fontinalis, Putnam’s Vineyard and Stowe-based brewery, the Alchemist. The proceeds will go toward supporting community theater company BarnArts, who helped host the event. For more information, visit barnarts.org.
Film and education
“The Last Class,” a documentary produced by South Woodstock filmmaker Josh Melrod about Dartmouth alum Robert Reich’s final semester teaching at University of California Berkeley, will screen at the Nugget Theater in Hanover from Friday, Aug. 15 through Thursday, Aug. 21. For more information, visit nugget-theaters.com or call 603-643-2769.
