A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

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A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
PHOTOS BY LORI LEMOINE; MEMBERS OF THE CAST OF A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER INCLUDE, IN THE BACK ROW, JORDAN JOHNSON, GREG MCMANUS, WREN ALEXANDER AND JOSHUA FREEMAN. IN THE CENTER ROW ARE ARLENE MCMANUS, DAHLYS LORENZ, ROBERT SOLLIEN AND ANNE SOLLIEN. IN THE FRONT ROW ARE ELI ALEXANDER, TIFFANY DEMPS AND BRIANNA GUTIERREZ.

BY AYO DEMPS

 

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, to be performed at Shoestring Theatre in Lake Helen Friday, Jan. 31, through Sunday, Feb. 16, takes us back to London in the early 1900s for a fast-paced rumination on the casual cruelty and negligence of the upper classes and the disillusionment of the poor.

Adapted from the 1907 novel The Autobiography of the Criminal by Roy Horniman, the play debuted on Broadway in late 2013, and quickly became a smash hit, winning four Tony Awards in 2014.

The tone is set for this dark musical comedy when the ensemble, which includes Jordan Johnson, Dahlys Lorenz, Arlene McManus, Greg McManus, Anne Sollien and Bob Sollien, dressed in funeral black, enter and immediately tell the audience to leave.

“For those of you with a weaker constitution … This is a tale of revenge and retribution … For God’s sake, GO!”

MONTY (PLAYED BY WREN ALEXANDER) WRITES HIS MEMOIR FROM HIS PRISON CELL REFLECTING ON HIS EXPERIENCES SINCE FINDING OUT HE WAS A D’YSQUITH.

In Pentonville Prison, The ninth Earl of Highhurst, Lord Navarro (played by Wren Alexander) is writing his memoirs on the eve of his possible execution. His crime? Murder.

Back in 1907, poverty-stricken commoner Monty Navarro is mourning the death of his mother, Isabel, when a strange visitor slams into his ramshackle Clapham Flat. Ms. Marietta Shingle (Elysium Alexander, who also portrays several other characters) reveals their long correspondence with the deceased.

Furthermore, it’s revealed that Monty is actually a D’Ysquith, eighth in line to the Earldom of Highhurst, his mother having been disowned for eloping with Monty’s father. All that stands between him and his ancestral seat are, well, eight humans of increasing financial standing and varying levels of incompetence (all played hilariously by Joshua Freeman).

However, the family member who truly sets the story into motion is the cousin/priest Monty turns to for help. Monty’s pleas fall on deaf ears and, by sheer coincidence, the priest falls from his church’s bell tower. Well, mostly sheer coincidence. This sets Monty’s mind on a dark and hilarious path strewn with comically ended lives. A lothario (Freeman), an elderly banker (Freeman), a country squire (Freeman), a benefactress (Freeman), a bodybuilder (Freeman), an actress (Freeman) …

MONTY’S LOVE INTERESTS COLLIDE IN “I’VE DECIDED TO MARRY YOU,” FEATURING BRIANNA GUTIERREZ, WREN ALEXANDER AND TIFFANY DEMPS.

Ah, and we can’t forget the love interests! The woman he loves, Sibella Hallward (Brianna Gutierrez), a beautiful social climber, reveals that while she loves Monty, she won’t marry him. He’s poor, and is destined to be so. And she marries someone else! Bad form, Sibella.

Then there’s Phoebe D’Ysquith (Tiffany Demps), noble and pious, a cousin of Monty’s. Observant, quirky, and genuinely kind and empathetic, she is an outlier among the D’Ysquiths. After her brother Henry (Freeman) dies in a beekeeping accident, she turns to Monty for love and support, and becomes his wife. A love triangle ensues.

The ending is truly, as they say in the show, “the last one you’d expect.”

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is directed by Ayo Demps, directed musically by Tiffany Demps, and stage-managed by Lori Lemoine, with lighting design (on our entirely upgraded light system) by Mason Carter.

The show runs Jan. 31-Feb. 16, with Friday shows at 7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday shows at 2:30 p.m., and a special show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15. Tickets are available at shoestringtheatre.net or by calling 386-228-3777.

Shoestring Theatre is located at 380 S. Goodwin St. in Lake Helen.

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