FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE An Uplifting Tale of Love, Hope and Rejuvenation
By Matthew Barber Chilly and rain-soaked London in the aftermath of WWI is as cheerless and gray to Rose and Lotty as their musty marriages. What better remedy than arranging a “ladies only” holiday to a sunlit, flowering Italian villa perched above the Mediterranean? This uplifting tale of love, hope and rejuvenation is sure to delight. (Please note: this play contains brief nudity.) Tickets can be purchased in person at The Rep Ticket Office at 108 East Wells Street, or by telephone at 414-224-9490. Tickets can also be purchased online 24/7 at milwaukeerep.com. In ENCHANTED APRIL, an enticing advertisement draws together four unlikely women whose only commonality lies in their lonely, listless lives. The “advert,” for the April rental of an Italian castle, San Salvatore, first unites Lotty Wilton and Rose Arnott. Chilled by England’s relentless spring rains, the looming aftermath of WWI, and their burdensome husbands, both women imagine the salvation at San Salvatore for “those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine.” Inspired, Lotty and Rose compose their own advertisement, seeking female companions to share their Mediterranean sanctuary. Their only takers – both unexpected - are the banal, alienating Mrs. Clayton Graves and Lady Caroline Bramble, who Lotty describes as partial to “cognac and dancing.” With their ache for escape and need for “sisters” to skirt the bill, Lotty and Rose accept the old widow and the young socialite and steal away from their husbands with half-truth and haste. From the moment Lotty and Rose depart their suffocating English town, it seems that miscommunication and misdirection have also tagged along for the ride. Yet despite a rocky start for the quartet, the intoxicating Italian air soon liquefies the tension. As April passes and bonds emerge, all present revitalize one another with heart, honesty and camaraderie. This charming drama may come from uncertain beginnings, but guarantees a little slice of paradiso in the end. As Literary Director Kristin Crouch writes in the winter edition of The Rep’s publication Prologue, “Whether you hunger for a little excitement, renewal, or just need to leave the past behind, come join ‘those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine. . .’” Artistic Director Joe Hanreddy agrees, calling ENCHANTED APRIL “a delightfully charming and romantic story” and praising the “courage” of the women in the play, who “escape the dreary London winter and their conventionally inattentive English husbands to rent a sun-drenched wisteria-laden villa in Portofino.” Playwright Matthew Barber, Los Angeles native, graduated from UCLA with a degree in English. He worked in the San Francisco area in PR and marketing for theaters and is the former arts editor for the San Francisco Independent. ENCHANTED APRIL was his first play and generated a great deal of positive feedback. In addition to the 2003 Tony Award nomination for Best Play, he received the Outer Critics Circle nomination for Best Play, the Drama League nomination for Best Play and won the 2002/03 John Gassner Award for Outstanding New American Play. Author of the novel ENCHANTED APRIL, Elizabeth von Arnim was born Mary Annette Beauchamp in Sydney, Australia in 1866. Little “May” and her family frequently moved around Western Europe. She became an avid reader and a schooled organist. In 1889, the artistic young woman toured Rome with her merchant father and met German nobleman, Count Henning August von Arnim. Two years later, May and Henning were married. Their lavish lifestyle eventually proved too lofty and mounting debt inevitably became a problem. The young count grew domineering and May sought respite in her writing, returning to the literary comforts familiar to her youth. She created her pen name, “Elizabeth,” and published the semi-autobiographical Elizabeth and Her German Garden (1898). Eventually, the von Arnim family was forced to sell their majestic estate in 1908. They moved to England and the count died two years later, leaving Elizabeth with their four daughters and one son. Riding on her success as a writer and liberation from her husband, Elizabeth returned to Switzerland where she entertained social notables, including an affair with H.G. Wells. When WWI began and one of her daughters died in Germany, she and lover John Francis Stanley Russell escaped to England. There, Elizabeth became Countess Russell. Almost immediately, however, the marriage appeared doomed. Elizabeth fled to the United States and published Christine (1917) and Enchanted April (1922), both semi-autobiographical, featuring tyrannical husbands. Elizabeth spent the 1930s in Switzerland, London and on the French Riviera, continuing her career as a writer. She returned to the United States during WWII and published her real autobiography, All the Dogs of My Life (1936). Elizabeth died at the age of 75 in South Carolina. Her ashes are buried next to her brother’s under a magnolia tree in an England churchyard. Her works seemed to be buried, too, until Miramax Films adapted Enchanted April in 1992 and revived her hopeful novel. The film won two Golden Globes, was nominated for another and was also nominated for three Oscars. Director Michael Halberstam is
the Artistic Director and co-founder of Writers’ Theatre,
where he has directed LOVE & LUNACY, A
PLAY ON WORDS, DEAR MASTER, NOT
ABOUT HEROES, DIARY OF A MADMAN, MY
OWN STRANGER, MARRIAGE & BEARS, BLAKE, MEMOIR, PRIVATE
LIVES, LOOK BACK IN ANGER, CANDIDA, FALLEN
ANGELS, NIXON’S NIXON, SPITE
FOR SPITE, THE FATHER, A PHOENIX
TOO FREQUENT, ROUGH CROSSING, CRIME
AND PUNISHMENT, BENEFACTORS, THE
DOCTOR’S DILEMMA, SEAGULL, THE
UNEASY CHAIR, THE DUCHESS OF MALFI, OTHELLO and
most recently THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION. Michael
appeared in the Writers’ Theatre productions TWO BY SHAW,
OSCAR REMEMBERED, DAMON, RING & F. SCOTT, IN
THE HEART OF WINTER, the title role in RICHARD
II, PINTERACTS, LOOT and MISALLIANCE. Previously,
he spent two years at The Stratford Festival in Ontario and performed
in TIMON OF ATHENS, THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING
PESTLE, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, AS
YOU LIKE IT and MACBETH. Halberstam’s
other Chicago acting credentials include productions with Wisdom
Bridge, Court Theatre and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Elsewhere
he directed: PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (American Theater Company); THE
GAMESTER (Northlight Theatre); A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (Peninsula
Players Theatre); HAMLET(Illinois Shakespeare Festival); CANDIDA
(Jean Cocteau Repertory in New York City, NY) and TEN LITTLE INDIANS
(Drury Lane Oakbrook). Halberstam has received awards for excellence
in theater management and artistic achievement from The Chicago
Drama League, The Arts & Business Council and the Chicago Lawyers
for the Creative Arts. He is also directing CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
at 59E59 Theaters in New York City, part of Writers’ Theatre’s
2007/08 Season and the company’s New York premiere.
An Uplifting Tale of Love, Hope and Rejuvenation By Matthew Barber
DATES: February 8 – March 9, 2008 DESCRIPTION: Chilly and rain-soaked London in the aftermath of WWI is as cheerless and gray to Rose and Lotty as their musty marriages. What better remedy than arranging a “ladies only” holiday to a sunlit, flowering Italian villa perched above the Mediterranean? This uplifting tale of love, hope and rejuvenation is sure to delight. PERFORMANCES: Tuesday, 2/12/08 - 7:30 p.m./Talkback Tuesday, 2/19/08 - 6:30 p.m./Talkback Tuesday, 3/4/08 - 7:30 p.m./Talkback TICKET OFFICE LOCATION: 108 East Wells Street in Milwaukee’s Downtown Theater District TICKET OFFICE HOURS: Mon
- Fri, 12 pm - 6 pm on phones, 12 pm - curtain for window
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