Reporting: Monessa Guilfoil
Hope Baugh of Indytheatrehabit says about “The Ladies’ Man”:
The story is of a doctor who lies to his young wife because his laughter at a word she uttered during a key moment in their love-making has made him impotent. That one lie sets off a chain of misunderstandings and events involving everyone from his servants to his patients to his mother-in-law and more.
Watching this show is like watching the intricate inner workings of an expensive pocket watch or an elaborate mousetrap. It is fascinating because it is perfectly balanced and timed, with many layers of cause-and-effect. It is funny, I think, because it involves, after all, human beings, who are not, actually, machines but rather a bit messy and unpredictable.
The above poster is from Charles Morey’s website. The playwright has written or adapted 9 plays and Directed more than 80 productions and has served as Artistic Director for the Pioneer Theatre Company since 1984. Click here for Morey’s Bio.
Georges Feydeaux
Morey adapted “The Ladies’ Man” from a play by turn of the 20th Century playwright, Georges Feydeux whose prolific body of plays is considered by some as a predecessor to the “Theatre of the Absurd,” popularized by Samuel Beckett and Edward Albee among many others.
Patrick Sweetman directs “The Ladies’ Man for the UTC Department of Theatre and Speech. He says that this is the kind of play he likes to direct because as a farce, “it directs you,” from, “words on the page to scenes on the stage.” He calls the script a “confection.” Professor Sweetman also directed comic farce, “Noises Off” at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre. Having been trained as an actor, he often views directing with an eye to the actor’s perspective.
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