Some light is shed on the Footlighters upcoming performance

Unbeknownst to the majority of Hanover High School’s public, the Footlighters fall performance has started to come together, the cast has been chosen and the scripts passed out. But what can those who have a hankering for an evening of student stagecraft expect to see on November 6th through 8th? An interview with the play’s director Kim Sullivan gives us a glimpse into the upcoming performance. The play is titled Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme or The Would Be Gentleman, a collaboration between Molière and composer Jean-Baptiste Lully as a comédie-ballet for an extravagant court spectacle in 1670 at the order of King Louis XIV. “The result is the story of Monsieur Jourdain , the buffoonish cloth merchant who longs to become a ‘gentleman’,” comments Kim Sullivan.

Members of The Would Be Gentleman’s ensemble practice of a dance
(Photo courtesy of Kim Sullivan)

Sullivan also gave kudos to Denise Frawley for her great help in organizing the choreography, and the suggestions made by the actors that have promised to make this play very funny and filled with amusing characters.

Ms. Sullivan and cast have been challenged by the task of making this 16th century play more politically correct for this day and age, especially during the final dance but they have found imaginative and entertaining ways to replace unsavory content where originally the players were intended to dress as stereotypical turks and dance, this was included in the play as a response to an offensive action Louis XIV had suffered from the Ottoman empire. Kim Sullivan also mentioned that the actors and costuming of the play will attempt to imitate the 16th century commedia dell’arte a style of embellished actions and addressing the audience. Kim Sullivan ended by saying, “I hope audiences will be transported into this richly colorful world, and mesmerized by these characters that Moliere has left behind for us to laugh at, laugh with, and love.”