[NEohioPAL] Night Must Fall - Akron

[Janis Harcar]

Weathervane Playhouse’s “Night Must Fall” Reveals the Different Faces of Evil

Classic British Mystery/Thriller Serves Up Intrigue and Suspense

 

Weathervane Playhouse’s 79th season continues with the mystery-thriller-chiller Night Must Fall – directed by Eileen Moushey and presented live on stage from Oct. 10 to 27, 2013. 

Written by Emlyn Williams, Night Must Fall is a taut psychological thriller containing all the elements of a classic British murder-mystery — an autocratic dowager, her lonely spinster companion, a gloomy remote country home…and murder!

Set in 1935 in the English county of Essex, the play’s action takes place inside a bungalow named Forest Corner, whose owner, Mrs. Branson, is a domineering — but very wealthy — widow and hypochondriac.

Olivia, Mrs. Bramson’s niece and paid companion, is unhappy and lonely and longs for a life different than the one which fate has handed her. A feisty housekeeper, a flustered maid, and a genial neighbor round out the "regulars" at Forest Corner. But when a murdered woman’s body is discovered nearby, everyone is stunned by this sudden jolt of violence into their quiet lives. 

Into this mix enters a young man named Dan, whose charm and personality lights up the room, lifts the spirits of all, and earns him a spot in the household. But is he what he appears, or is something not quite right about him?

From there, a diabolical game of cat and mouse begins, climaxing in a desperate race to prevent yet another murder. The different faces of evil are unveiled in this vintage story of intrigue and suspense. Terror, uncertainty, and a shocking conclusion make Night Must Fall a perfectly thrilling entertainment.

Night Must Fall Performance and Ticket Information

 Night Must Fall plays on the Weathervane Playhouse Founders Theater stage between Oct. 10 and 27, 2013.

The low-cost preview performance is Thursday, Oct. 10; the official opening-night performance is Friday, Oct. 11 at 8 p.m.
Between Oct. 10 and 27, 2013, the performance days and times are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets for the Oct. 10 preview performance only are $15 each. Tickets for performances after Sept. 5 are $21 each. 

For performances after Oct. 10, $21 tickets for seniors are available for Thursday and Sunday performances. Tickets for children (ages 17 or younger) and college students are $5 each at all performances (including the June 6 preview performance). Additional discounts for groups of 10 or larger are also available.

The Weathervane Playhouse Box Office is open Mondays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Fridays between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. and is also open beginning one hour before each performance. For tickets, visit or call the Weathervane Box Office at 330-836-2626 during Box Office hours or connect online to www.weathervaneplayhouse.com.

The Night Must Fall Cast

JO McGARVEY
Mrs. Bramson 

JENNIFER HAYEK
Olivia Grayne

ADAM ADLERSON
Hubert Laurie 

ASHLEY COLLINS
Nurse Libby

MEG HOPP
Mrs. Terence 

ALLISON GOOD
Dora Parkoe

TOM STEPHAN
Inspector Belize 

JONATHAN RIESE
Dan 

The Night Must Fall Backstage Team

EILEEN MOUSHEY
Director

MARY KATE CLANCY
Stage Manager

SCOTT CRIM
Lighting Designer

TOM ABDOO 
Properties Designer

EILEEN and STEPHEN MOUSHEY
Sound Co-Designers

JASEN J. SMITH
Costume Designer

ALAN SCOTT FERRALL
Scenic Designer and Technical Director

KATHY KOHL
Assistant Technical Director

About the Show’s Director and Choreographer

EILEEN MOUSHEY is a freelance writer/director and a two-time regional Emmy Award winner. Her company, Mysteries by Moushey, publishes her original comedy/mystery scripts which have been performed in over 1,300 venues worldwide. Eileen has been been involved at Weathervane Playhouse for over 30 years as a volunteer, actress, writer, designer, and director. She served 10 years on the Playhouse's Board of Trustees, including a stint as President, and steered two capital campaigns. Recently, Eileen directed the Weathervane productions of And the Winner Is, Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, A Tuna Christmas and See How They Run. She also serves as the Coordinator for Weathervane’s annual 8x10 TheatreFest, the Playhouse's festival of 10-minute plays. She lives in Kent with her husband, Stephen. They have three children and three grandchildren.

 
About the Play’s Production History and Adaptations

Night Must Fall was first produced for the stage in London at the Duchess Theatre, where it opened May 31, 1935. The first Broadway production opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City in September of 1936. A film adaptation followed in 1937, and it starred Robert Montgomery as Dan, Rosalind Russell as Olivia and May Whitty as Mrs. Bramson (in the role that she had originated in London and New York). Night Must Fall was adapted into a radio play in April 1946 on Molle Mystery, and it was again performed in March 1948 on the long-running radio drama series Suspense (with Robert Montgomery and Dame May Whitty reprising their original roles). A second film version (with Albert Finney in the role of Dan) came to movie theaters in 1964. The play was revived in London in 1986 at the Greenwich Theatre, and then on Broadway in 1999 (with Matthew Broderick playing Dan).

(Sources: the Internet Broadway Database and Wikipedia)

 
About the Playwright
EMLYN WILLIAMS was a Welsh playwright, screenwriter and actor. Born George Emlyn Williams in Flintshire in northeast Wales on Nov. 26, 1905, he lived in a rural village in which Welsh was spoken until he was 12 years old, when his family moved to an English-speaking town. The move changed the course of his life, as it was there that a teacher, Sarah Grace Cooke, recognized his literary talent. She encouraged him and helped him win a scholarship to Oxford, where he attended the college of Christ Church. She is immortalized in the character of "Miss Moffat" in his play The Corn is Green.

Education enabled him to escape the life of hard labor that was the lot of his people. He attended Christ Church, Oxford and also studied in Geneva, Switzerland. He joined a repertory theater and made his acting debut in And So To Bed in London in November of 1927. He eventually became an accomplished stage and screen actor, but it as a playwright that he had his greatest success, eventually writing a score of plays.

He had his first theatrical success as a writer with A Murder Has Been Arranged. The success of his 1935 play Night Must Fall, which opened that year at London's Duchess Theatre, led to its being transferred to New York the following year.

The Corn Is Green was a Broadway triumph for the great Ethel Barrymore in 1940 and brought Bette Davis one of her 10 Oscar nominations in the 1945 film adaptation. Katharine Hepburn later played the part of  Miss Moffat in the 1979 TV movie directed by George Cukor.


Williams' plays Yesterday's Magic, The Morning Star and Someone Waiting were also performed on Broadway, and he had a success on the Great White Way as an actor, too, in a solo performance as Charles Dickens, which he revived twice. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for A Boy Growing Up (1958), an adaptation of a work by fellow Welshman Dylan Thomas.

True to his Welsh heritage, Williams also nurtured the young Welshman Richard Burton, whom he directed in his first lead film role in Women of Dolwyn (1949). (Burton's professional stage debut had been in Williams' play Druid's Rest, and Emyln Williams' son, Brook Williams, became one of Burton's life-long friends). Williams was the godfather to his Burton's daughter, Kate Burton, who is also an actress.

In addition to directing and acting in film, Emlyn Williams famously collaborated with the great director Alfred Hitchcock. Williams acted in and wrote additional dialogue for both the original The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and Jamaica Inn (1939).

Williams wrote two memoirs – George: An Early Autobiography (1961) and Emlyn: An Early Autography, 1927-1935 (1974) – as well as a 1967 non-fiction account of the Moors Murders entitled Beyond Belief. His 1980 novel Headlong was adapted into the movie King Ralph (1991). He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1962.

When he died on Sept. 25, 1987, Emlyn Williams had written or co-written 20 screenplays in addition to his 20 plays. As an actor, he had appeared in 41 films and teleplays, in addition to his numerous appearances on stage.

 (Sources: The Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia)
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Weathervane Playhouse and its dedicated volunteers offer vital performing arts resources for the people of Northeastern Ohio. We create exciting and thought-provoking shows with impressive production values. Through educational programs and volunteer opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, Weathervane serves the theater community, our patrons and our volunteers.

The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, education excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

Weathervane Playhouse’s 2013-2014 Season Support Provided by:

Akron Community Foundation

Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation

Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust (KeyBank, Trustee)

OMNOVA Solutions Foundation

Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation

Sisler McFawn Foundation

Ohio Arts Council

Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement
Weathervane Playhouse
330-836-2626 X16
jharcar at weathervaneplayhouse.com



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