Sex, authority, and psychoanalysis take center stage on Thursday, Oct. 16, in Todd Theatre as the University of Rochester’s International Theatre Program begins its 25th season with the provocative farce, What the Butler Saw.
“The play is funny but also profound in how it shifts roles and blurs the boundaries of our over-analyzed, psychiatrically dissected sexual and gender politics,” said Nigel Maister, the Russell and Ruth Peck Artistic Director of the International Theatre Program. “This work was the first to fuse extreme physical comedy with verbal wit in a way that had not yet been seen in comedy.” It was completed less than a month before playwright Joe Orton’s death and is considered by many critics his finest work.
In the comedy, a successful psychiatrist attempts to seduce a prospective secretary. Hilarity then ensues when his wife interrupts his advances and his life unravels quickly. It soon becomes clear that both husband and wife have unsavory secrets to hide as things continue to unfold when the police and a government inspector enter the couple’s lives.
Maister, who has led the University’s International Theatre Program since 2002, directs the play. Born in South Africa, he has trained as an actor and director and has a master’s of fine arts from Carnegie Mellon University. He is the recipient of numerous awards and a founding member and resident theater director of the music group Alarm Will Sound. His work has been seen at the Lincoln Center Festival, Carnegie Hall, NY’s River to River Festival, and the Holland Festival. Also an author, composer, and librettist, his latest musical-theater work I Was Here I Was I received its world premiere at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in summer 2014.
Set and costume design is by Tilly Grimes, whose work at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and for Trinity Repertory Company and New World Stages has been widely acclaimed. Lighting is designed by Solomon Weisbard, a recent Yale graduate who worked with the International Theatre Program on last season’s world premiere, Cinderella. Sound design and original music for the production are by Obadiah Eaves, whose work has been seen on- and off-Broadway in works by David Mamet, Woody Allen, Eric Bogosian, Ethan Coen, and Suzan-Lori Parks.
What the Butler Saw runs Thursday, Oct. 16, through Saturday, Oct. 18, and Wednesday, Oct. 22, through Saturday, Oct. 25. The shows begin at 8 p.m. except for two matinée performances on Saturday, Oct. 18, and Sunday, Oct. 19, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $8 for UR students; $12 for UR alumni, faculty and staff, and for seniors (65+); and $15 for the general public. All performances take place in Todd Theater, located in the Todd Union building on the River Campus. Tickets can be purchased online at www.rochester.edu/theatre, or by calling 585.275.4088. Tickets may also be purchased at the box office up to an hour before each performance.
