What ho, Jeeves! : 'Stolen Venus' finds its way to the Town Hall stage

CORNWALL — A frightfully smashing production by the Town Hall Players is shaping up. An adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves and the Stolen Venus� will be presented March 12, 13 and 14 on the Town Hall stage.

As the cast gathered for a recent rehearsal, the mood was one of excitement, with a little bit of nerves mixed in. They are reaching that point where they need to get their lines memorized, and where they are beginning to envision being on stage before a large crowd (which the Players always attract).

Dave Cadwell plays one of the leads: Jeeves’ “gentleman� employer, Bertie Wooster. Cadwell was sorting index cards filled with his lines.

“I memorize them with an American accent first,� he said, with a wry smile, “then I translate it into a British accent.�

For anyone who is a fan of classic British comedy, and for those yet to discover it, this show promises to be a blast.

A good indicator of where this is going: Cast members couldn’t keep a straight face while trying out some of their lines. It didn’t help when director Joe Harnett, who wrote the adaptation, demonstrated his solution to the problem of knocking Cadwell in the back of the head with a silver platter, without really hurting him. (You had to be there.)

Harnett’s directorial approach is to allow his actors to find their own way into their characters, to truly understand them.

Cadwell said he just “wants to get people laughing from the very beginning,� which shouldn’t be a problem. He added that, while he has one of the biggest parts, he gets through all his lines rather quickly.

“I get knocked out cold about two-thirds of the way through, and I’m unconscious almost until the end.�

The cast includes Ron Dukenski, Jandi Hanna, Larry Stevens, John Perry, Michael Coraggio and Keith Martin.

It promises to be a jolly good show. A reminder: If cold, hard seats are not your cup of tea, seats for Players’ productions come with cushions (Hurrah!).

Tickets are still just $10, with a portion of proceeds going, as always, to the Cornwall Food and Fuel Bank. The curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 12, and Saturday, March 13, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 14.

For more information, call 860-672-6762.

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