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Smash by La Jolla High School  “Love and politics don’t mix,” insists the millionaire
socialist revolutionary Sidney Trefusis. But this unlikely revolutionary leader
who tries to start his socialist revolution in an even more unlikely place – an
all-girl’s charm school – can’t seem to prove his own words true. Starting the
play by leaving his stunned bride on the altar to embark on his revolution,
then falling in love with the fiery redheaded student whom he enlists in his
battle, then finding himself caught in between those same two women on the very
day of his revolution, all combine to ensnare him in a morass of love and
politics that he is not likely to escape from!
Set in England in 1910, this amusing political satire by Jeffrey Hatcher based on George Bernard Shaw’s The Unsocial Socialist saw its world premiere last year on the stage of The Old Globe, and La Jolla High School brought it back to San Diego for another smashing run. This run stars a group of unusually seasoned veterans of Director Ann Boutelle’s always impressive drama program. As Sidney Trefusis, Jason Robertson leads the revolution. At least to start with, before his power gets usurped by the two women in his life. From his charismatic and confident (well, perhaps arrogant) beginning, which includes riding onto the stage on a unicycle (a talent he picked up just for this role!), Jason finds himself helplessly handcuffed to a teacart throughout the last act and not feeling very confident at all. Christine Garver, as his jilted wife Henrietta Trefusis, responds quite calmly (though smiling for the wedding photographer is rather a bother) and recovers quite quickly from Sidney’s desertion. A year later, when she runs into Sidney again, it’s Henrietta who’s in the driver’s seat, and Sidney is not going to like the ride. And then there’s that fiery redhead, Agatha Wylie, played by Katie Reynolds. Already a troublemaker in the charm school, Agatha gets inspired by Sidney’s call to revolution, and soon proves to be even more zealous than Sidney himself. Especially when she gets hold of a gun, which Katie handles with disconcerting enthusiasm! The rest of the cast provides volleys of laughs involving a couple of college romances, especially during a thrilling phantom badminton game like you’ve never seen (and will never see), not to mention a slow-moving, somewhat lazy groundskeeper named Lumpkin (Matt Asciutto) who wouldn’t be able to keep up with that phantom badminton birdie if he could see it, or if he even tried (both being possibilities which are, admittedly, quite unlikely).Production Dates: May 29 to June 1, 2003
~ Cast ~
Henrietta Trefusis: Christine Garver Sidney Trefusis: Jason Robertson Mr. Jansenius: Joe Barkett Gertrude Lindsay: Flannery Huntley Jane Carpenter: Emily Sweet Miss Wilson: Alexandra Lautanen Chichester Erskine: Yonatan Landau Lumpkin: Matt Asciutto Agatha Wylie: Katie Reynolds Mr. Mengels: Jason Robertson Sir Charles Brandon: Julian Diaz Director/Set Design: Ann Boutelle Dialect Coach & Asst. Director: Rosina Reynolds Stage Manager: Nelly Bablumian Lighting Design: Masha Tsimring, Katarina Jones |