Scarborough’s Guild Festival Theatre is presenting Three Men on a Bike, the follow up to last year’s hit comedy, Three Men in a Boat. Based on the classic story by Jerome K. Jerome, the production opens July 18 and runs until August 4 at the outdoor venue.
Guild Festival Theatre in Scarborough presents outdoor productions in a summer season of theatre in Guild Park & Gardens. Guild Park is home to the iconic Greek theatre, an amphitheatre built into the scenery. The location is atmospheric, and versatile enough to create and enact scenes of various types.
We spoke to playwright Mark Brownell, who adapted the original novel, director Sue Miner, and arranger/composer J. Rigzin Tute about the production.
Three Men on a Bike
Toronto-based playwright and librettist Mark Brownell is the recipient of a Dora Mavor Moore award, a Governor General’s Award Nomination, the Maxim Mazumdar Play Competition Award and a Harold Independent Theatre Award. Selected credits include Dragon’s Tale (Tapestry Opera/Soundstreams/Luminato), Iron Road (Tapestry Opera), The Weaving Maiden (Soundstreams) and Harmonious Interest (Victoria Symphony).
Director Sue Miner is a native of Montreal. She studied and graduated from The National Theatre School Acting Section. Sue has directed productions at Young People’s Theatre, Canadian Stage, Theatre Aquarius, and a Dora Award winning production of Alice in Wonderland for Bad Hats Theatre/Soulpepper, among many others. She is the Program Coordinator of George Brown Theatre School.
J. Rigzin Tute is a composer and music educator whose credits include productions a the Shaw Festival, and Resurgence Theatre. He taught music in the theatre school of George Brown College, and Toronto Metropolitan University, composing for and directing dozens of productions.
Three Men on a Bike: The Interview
The story involves the holiday adventures and misadventures of a trio of friends. Last year’s adaptation of Three Men on a Boat was a hit, but it’s a bit of an unusual choice for source material. What led to the idea?
“I think for both Sue and I,” says Mark Brownell, “we really loved them, and it has a really weird lasting quality. Brits having bad experiences vacationing is very similar to Canadians having bad camping vacations.”
There’s also a sense of familiarity that comes from the fact that English writer and humourist Jerome K. Jerome’s work, and in fact Three Men on a Boat (published in 1889), influenced many writers who’d come after him.
“Jerome’s characters are kind of proto Jeeves and Wooster,” Mark explains, the kind of manic member of the rising middle class of the Victorian era. “There is a lot of British humour that came after that was influenced by Jerome,” he adds. “[You could call it] ‘Three Berties without a Jeeves’,” he laughs. “There’s no rational person in these shows.”
A lot of the humour comes from the idea of people who think they know much more than they actually do (a theme that resonates as much today). It’s still accessible, and more than 130 years later, the humour still holds up.
“One of the things that I find universal about it is that we all want a vacation,” says Sue. As she notes, our idealized visions of holidays are rarely actually fulfilled. The play lets us experience that dilemma vicariously. “They go on adventures that we don’t have to go on.”
The universal nature of the humour, and the right playwright to adapt the book, were keys to getting it right.
“I think Mark’s a particularly amazing playwright,” Sue says.
Three Men on a bike takes up the story of the three characters on another holidays. “It was actually a lot easier than the first one because I was very familiar to the characters,” Mark says.
The outdoor venue of the Greek theatre suits the play’s comedy. “We had nothing to concern ourselves in the end,” Mark says, noting the Guild Festival’s high quality sound system as a factor. “The show, because it’s outside all the time, plays really well.”
A larger than life approach is necessary in an outdoor setting, a mode that matches the play’s approach to humour. “It’s rare that you get to revisit characters,” Mark says. “The characters, I really love them, as goofy and stupid as they are.” The humour draws on the essential absurdity of existence. “It’s just fun. I’ve done a number of historical adaptations. There’s something about them that is really appealing. We call it The Idiots Abroad.”
Arranger/composer J. Rigzin Tute has created the musical score for both adaption’s of Jerome’s books. “It comes from Mark’s conception of Three Men in a Boat,” he explains. Mark had dug up a few songs from the period, classic English music hall stuff. Rigzin arranged it for the original production.
This year, he’s adding some original music as well. “It’s essentially one big song,” Rigzin says. Velocipede Jimmy is the title, a song that’s performed in excerpts that come up in the action of the play. It evolves through different keys and moods as the story calls for.
“Mark wrote this year a fantastic text,” Rigzin says. He mentions a character who reappears from last year’s play, a German Lieder singer who’s vanity becomes a part of the humour. Last summer, the production had him singing Schubert. This year, Rigzin wrote a song to Mark’s text. “It all comes out of the conception that Mark had, and the source material he had for me.”
He likens the style to vaudeville with a British twist. “There is a real British music hall tradition that is of that era,” Rigzin explains. He listened to original recordings to get a better feel. It’s a style of music that, while it went out of favour, left a lasting influence on English music. “It’s the same stuff that ends up generating [the Beatles’ hit] When I’m 64.”
Mark points out how the style of humour went on to have a long reach. “With those characters, there’s no nuance,” he says. “It’s pretty over the top.” He mentions Monty Python, the Goon Show, and other examples of British humour that followed along the same lines. The music becomes part of the comedy.
“The wonderful thing about these characters, like human beings, every single one I know, they think they’re right,” Sue says. Like most groups of friends, there’s always someone who thinks they’re right. “It’s very relatable. We’re with people we love, and it’s been too long [on the road],” she explains. “It’s not just three silly guys.”
“Mark is good at writing humanity into characters,” says Rigzin. The three titular men have been friends since childhood, and the conversation is full of bickering and zingers thrown back and forth. “You also get the fact that they really love each other. They’re really friends.”
As Rigzin states, adding the music means he comes into the production much later than most of the creative team. “I get to approach this stuff really as an audience member,” he says. “There is that sense of humanity. We go wherever, and then get annoyed that everything isn’t like home. We all do that to some extent.”
In contrast to last year’s Three Men on a Boat, the stage and scope is larger simply because it’s set outside the confines of a boat.
“It’s harder. It’s a very, very physical play,” Sue says. “They really work hard, those guys.”
The set uses few props, relying largely on the natural setting.
The production includes the steps and porticos of the Greek theatre. “It’s so astounding. I’m really looking forward to taking this trip of theirs in that space. It’s going to be fascinating to see how that space interacts with the play,” she says.
The pacing is important. “I have a really short attention span. I’m a terrible audience [member]. I need to be engaged every second. I want to be there with those guys,” she adds.
Other Personnel
Toronto-based actor Jack Copland plays Harris. Jack has a diverse background in theatre, TV, and film, including voice over work, Theatre on the Ridge, the Dora-nominated Three Ordinary Men, and Murdoch Mysteries. He is a graduate of the Ivey School of Business and the George Brown Theatre School.
Actor Azeem Nathoo plays the role of Jay. Azeem began his career in the UK, where he trained at LAMDA, and worked in London and elsewhere in England, including the Soho Theatre in London’s fabled West End. After returning to Toronto, he’s worked with the Stratford Festival, and many other companies across Canada.
Multi-disciplinary Sri Lankan/Canadian theatre artist, educator and arts-administrator Suchiththa Wickremesooriya portrays George. Along with his theatrical credits as an actor, he will make his professional directorial debut at Theatre Passe Muraille next spring in a Deaf Theatre adaptation of The Little Prince.
Production Designer Ina Kerklaan has been working in theatre for more than two decades, including the National Ballet of Canada, Canadian Stage, Soulpepper, Mirvish, Shaw Festival, and many more. She has been Head of Wardrobe for George Brown College for the last decade.
- Find more information about the production and location, and buy tickets as well as passes for the Guild Festival Theatre summer season, [HERE].
- After the run at The Greek Theatre, Three Men on a Bike will be travel to Prince Edward County for 10 performances at County Stage Company from August 8 to 18. Details for the tour can be found at [HERE].
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