A Unique Affirmation of the Theater

One night at Sharon Playhouse:

By

Rufus Collins

The evening of June 2 was one of those nights in the theater. Lee Harrington — our leading lady at the Sharon Playhouse production of “My Fair Lady,” whom audiences, critics and most especially our company have fallen in love with in the role Eliza Doolittle, one of the most demanding in all the canon — strained her voice during the matinee and would not be able to sing in the evening. The show must go on! But in this case, how could it? No understudy had been prepared and Lee’s voice needed the night off.

John Simpkins, the playhouse’s artistic director, assessed the situation 20 minutes before curtain. With an audience seated and thousands at stake, who could have imagined a director/producer without a hint of strain on his face? John’s had none. He was all kindness and empathy when he greeted Ms. Harrington. They consulted calmly for several minutes.

Since we were anticipating that Simpkins would cancel the performance and send the audience home, many of us, myself included, had not bothered to put on our costumes. But with less than 10 minutes to go, Simpkins gathered the company and announced his plan. Emma Camp, of our collegiate ensemble, would sing and speak the role from a seat near the stage in full view of the audience while Lee gave her performance in silence. It would not be the first time such a lip-syncing collaboration was attempted, but in my 30 years as an actor and theatergoer, I had never encountered it.

“Places!” was called. A current of focus and determination passed between as we hustled into position. To complete dance routines, scenes changes and other business, the ensemble would have to improvise around Ms. Camp’s absence. Actors would communicate with a non-speaking colleague. Ms. Harrington would perform her actions, but not her words. Ms. Camp would sight-read (and sight-sing!) an iconic part she had never played. When the downbeat fell, we headed into unknown territory without a map.

Suffice it to say, the Gods of Theater smiled on us that night. Ms. Harrington and Ms. Camp worked together seamlessly, plunging into the role from Eliza’s very first Aoww! — their physical and vocal performances merging into a single character of great passion and pathos.

Since speech and speaking “properly” is a central theme of “My Fair Lady,” the artistic and political power of Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” the play on which the musical is based, was as though rediscovered. We take our voices for granted — what Higgins calls our “divine gift of articulate speech” — but that night we were reminded that not everyone has this gift. Our cockney flower girl lost her speech for a night, but her fellow human being, an actor in this case, gave voice to her emotions, interpreted her gestures and shared her struggle toward the dignity she achieves by the end of the evening. The audience was on its feet at the end and something unique to the theater and its relationship to civilization was affirmed.

It has been a pleasure and great privilege to perform the role of Professor Higgins at the Sharon Playhouse during the last month, but the achievement of my fellow actors and this fine company under pressure that evening is the memory I will treasure most. The show went on in a collective triumph that started with Simpkin’s wise and cool-headed leadership.

Your playhouse has a bright, bright future, and I very much hope to be a part of it.

http://www.tricornernews.com/node/41555