By Rosie Shaw
Posters are printed, lines are memorized and details like where to hide the corpse are being worked out.
Important preparations are underway for Third Wall Theatre Company’s fourth season which begins Feb. 17 with Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Inspector Hound,” directed by Charles McFarland.
The play is a comedy that makes fun of both theatre critics and the classic “whodunit” murder mystery genre.
“It’s a play within a play and a spoof of Agatha Christie’s ‘The Mousetrap’,” says McFarland, who is also managing director at the Great Canadian Theatre Company.
The show is still in rehearsal, but Artistic Director James Richardson says tickets have already started to sell and word of mouth is beginning to spread.
Rehearsals are being held at Centretown’s Church of St. Barnabas with a makeshift set and masking tape on the floor to mark the shape of a stage.
All is going well, except for one last thing.
“Right now, we’re still searching for a couch that can be pushed easily over a corpse,” says McFarland.
It’s apparently hard to find the perfect couch to hide a dead body and still fit the set designer’s choices.
Resident designer Darcy Burgess created the set and lighting, and costumes are by Sarah Seely.
“The feel is ‘50s and ‘60s, but not too specific,” says McFarland. “It’s not modern, but not really period either.”
Stoppard wrote and set the play in 1968, right after he wrote “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.”
It’s one of three plays being offered by Third Wall this season. Stephen Berkoff’s “Greek,” a modern take on the Oedipus story, will run from April 28-30 and May 3-7 at the Arts Court Theatre.
The anonymous morality play “Everyman” will run from July 7-23 at the National Gallery of Canada’s outdoor amphitheatre.
But “The Real Inspector Hound” will play first at the Arts Court Theatre at 2 Daly Ave. from Feb. 17-20 and 22-26.
David Whiteley is chair of the board of directors, which approves all of Third Wall’s programming.
He says although there is more funding available to companies that produce only new Canadian plays, “the works of the world repertory have a great need to be done too.”
When Richardson programs each season, he makes sure there is a variety of both styles and eras.
“I make sure the plays we do address all of humanity, not just one issue, not just one segment of the population,” Richardson says.
“I try to create some sort of a mix with an overarching theme,” he says.
“Something that connects all the plays but still fulfills our mandate to do the great masterpieces.”
This year, all the plays are by British playwrights.
“They really know how to take the piss out of something,” says Richardson.
McFarland says “The Real Inspector Hound” is a show everyone can enjoy for three reasons.
“There’s the big, fun send-up of all the murder mysteries we know and love, the broad, knockabout English humour, and Tom Stoppard’s word games.”
Tickets are $20 for general admission, $15 for students and seniors, and $12 for members. Tickets can be reserved online at www.thirdwall.com or by calling the Arts Court box office at 564-7240.