By Tim Leeds
British comedy will frolic in the Montana State University-Northern Theatre, starting Thursday.
Montana Actors Theatre is performing "No Sex Please, We're British," a play by Anthony Marriot and Alistair Foot, for its fall production.
Director Sam Stuart recommends the play for anyone from middle school age through adults.
"It is in the tradition of a British farce," he said, "with lots of misdirection and double entendre."
He added that smaller children might not be very interested in the humor of the comedy.
Stuart, a music teacher at Rocky Boy Junior High who has been involved in drama for 30 years, said he performed in the play in Glasgow 20 years ago and really enjoyed the performance. He thought the people of Havre would also like it.
The play revolves around a young British couple who start receiving questionable material after the wife, played by Tylyn Carmean, orders what she thinks is Scandinavian glassware. She and her husband, played by Jeremy Lamb, and their friend, played by Martin Holt, try to dispose of the Scandinavian goods and hide them from their friends and family.
Stuart said the cast, which also includes Louann Lasalle, Joe Uhl, Donald Mayer, Michael Wilson, Chris Durward, Mike Palmer, Vicki Van Cleave and Ashley Kejsar, has worked very well together.
"They're a very good cast," he said. "They've worked very hard on memorization and working on their timing, which is very important in this show."
The rehearsal of the play started early in September. Grant Olson, assistant director, said the cast memorized its lines very early, which has allowed them to work on polishing the performance.
The cast, along with other members of MAT, worked on the set and production. Stuart said there are about 15 people involved.
MAT is working on another production at the same time, "Woman in Black," which will premier at a dinner party held by Mike and Sharnai Hamilton. The Hamiltons are auctioning off the dinner and play at the Northern Montana Health Care Foundation's Wine and Cheese Festival on Nov. 3.
Stuart said MAT will perform "Woman in Black" for the general public in December.
Auditions for MAT's next plays, "Othello" and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," are set for Nov. 15 in the university theater at 7 p.m. Stuart said those plays will be performed in February, on an alternating schedule.
"No Sex Please, We're British" opens at 8 p.m. Thursday in the MSU-Northern Theatre. MAT will also perform the play, which costs $7 for adults and $5 for students, on Friday and Saturday and Nov. 8-10. All performances start at 8 p.m. in the theater.
