Jee es Inter enes

Adapted by Margaret Raether based on the stories of P.G. Wodehouse

MAY 19 & 20, 24–27, 2023 @ 7:30 PM

MATINEES: MAY 20 & 27 @ 2:00 PM

Time: Spring, 1928

Location: Bertie’s posh London flat

Running Time: 2 hours, including one, 20-minute intermission

Featuring

Jeeves

Koenraad Beugelink

Eustace BassingtonBassington (Bassy)

Adriel Brandt

Director

Kerri Norris

Fight Choreographer

Steven Elcheshen

Stage Manager

Natalie Hoogstra

Agatha Spencer-Gregson

Beth Gasser-Ryckman

Gertrude

Winklesworth-Bode

Emily Hamel

Sir Rupert Watlington

Nigel Brooke

Bertie Wooster

Stephen Elcheshen

Set Designer

Andrew Potts

Costume Designer

Vicki Bolan

Hair & Make-Up Designer

Raelyn Schatz

Lighting Designer

Nigel Brooke

Sound Designer

Gabe Kirkley

Props Designers

Dianna Lewis & Charlene Crawford

Refreshments and snacks available in the lobby. Please finish your snacks and refreshments before returning to your seats. Only bottled water is allowed in the theatre. Thanks for your help in keeping the theatre venue clean and tidy!

PLEASE turn CELL PHONES and ELECTRONIC DEVICES off before showtime

• Please remain seated during the performance

• Please save the discussion and talking until intermission

• Videotaping or other video or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited

• Children under 3 unfortunately cannot be admitted into the theatre.

• Out of respect for your fellow audience members, please refrain from wearing strong fragrances while at the theatre.

Produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com)

Land Acknowledgement

Gallery 7 Theatre’s mandate is to share stories that explore the relational, social, and spiritual aspects of the human experience with a vision towards hope, reconciliation, and redemption. In that spirit, we’d like to acknowledge we carry on our artistic endeavors on the traditional and unceded territory of the Sto:Lo people, Sema:th First Nation and Mathxwi First Nation and we are thankful for this opportunity. May there be healing and peace as we seek to build a stronger, respectful, and more unified community together.

2022-2023

Gallery 7 Theatre gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Province of British Columbia.

Greetings from the Artistic Director

I’m not usually a fan of farce per se. I find farce to be tedious, with such over-the-top characters and incredibly outlandish situations that believability is stretched beyond what I can bare. About 15 minutes in, I lose interest in the characters, and I become ambivalent to their peril. So why do one here at G7? Well, to be honest, we’ve done farce before. Remember The Matchmaker? Technically, that show is a farce. Why did it get programed when I seem to have this snooty, highbrow attitude towards farce? Because I cared about the characters. I was enamoured by their charm. And I found the situations just believable enough that I could relate in some way.

Along comes Jeeves Intervenes. Another farce. And much to my tongue-in-cheek chagrin, I LIKED it. Sure, the characters are over-the-top and the situations the characters find themselves in are over-the-top too. But I get it. I can relate to the characters, and I can see that, while magnified times 100, their peril seems rather familiar. Not to mention, the play resists going overboard with bawdy humour, earning extra ‘clever’ marks with me. Speaking of ‘clever’ - who can deny that the dialogue is so witty and funny? I couldn’t resist. And so once again, we have a farce on our stage.

As a side note but not too much of an aside – to prove how much I believed in this show and to demonstrate I’m not THAT snooty, consider that this play was not available for licensing to us at first. Soon after selecting the play, we discovered that while the P.G. Wodehouse characters are public domain in the United States where the play originated, they are still under copyright in the rest of the world. It took some sleuthing to discover who handled licensing affairs on behalf of the Wodehouse estate. Following the exchange of several communications back and forth across

Acknowledgements

the pond with the Wodehouse literary agent, not to mention playwright, Margaret Raether, and the US-based publishing house that handles licensing for the play, we were finally able to secure the rights to produce the show. But that was BEFORE the pandemic when everything shut down and the aforementioned literary agent retired. Luckily, following the pandemic we were able to pick up the conversation where we left off with new literary and licensing agents and here we are. All that to say, it took some unusual effort to bring this show to G7, and it’s the only production in Canada this year, so take that anyone who thinks I’m TOO high brow.

There’s another reason we are doing a farce: farces are quite difficult to pull off well, and they require expert timing with dialogue and precise staging, things we need to explore if we are to further develop our theatrical chops. You’ll never learn to do something by not doing it, and so a farce we shall do.

I’m delighted that we’ve been privileged to have such an expert and passionate team of performers and artists led by Kerris Norris to stage this show. I think their efforts will bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart as they bring to life these over-thetop characters and these outlandish situations. Plus, I think you’ll discover some little nuggets of truth about family, love, and friendship along the wayimportant ingredients that help this farce rise to the top of the great farces. Please enjoy this fun-loving conclusion to our Happy 30(+2) Birthday season and our salute to the arrival of summer. See you in the Fall.

Curtain up!

Ken Hildebrandt Executive/ Artistic Director

Gallery 7 Theatre extends a HUGE thank-you to all our volunteers for their hard work, dedication and support. Without them, this theatre would not succeed! We would also like to thank the following for their contribution to this production:

SAMC Theatre (TWU) / Nuggets Bookstore Chilliwack

If you would like to volunteer or contribute to our productions, please contact us at 604-504-5940 or email info@gallery7theatre.com. We’d love to hear from you!