Eloping couples get a few life lessons on the Heritage Center stage in Morrisville as ActorsNET presents A.A. Milne’s “The Dover Road,” weekends from March 10 to 26.
Creative partners Maryalice Rubins-Topoleski and Charlotte Kirkby have become very skilled at unearthing the forgotten plays of yesteryear and breathing new life into them. Their current endeavor is the rare revival of a 1922 comedy.
Years before he created the iconic “Winnie the Pooh,” Milne was a popular dramatist and, “even if he was prone to eccentricity, ‘The Dover Road’ has some clever things to say about the fallacy of romantic love.”
Kirkby, who plays Anne, states: “The most surprising thing about this show is how fresh and relevant it feels today despite the fact it was written about 100 years ago. How many times have we seen friends and loved ones enter a relationship that makes us think, ‘Are you sure this is the person you want to be with?’”
The premise of the play is simple: the rich and peculiar Mr. Latimer occupies a house just off the Dover Road where his idea of philanthropy is to waylay eloping couples en route from London to Paris and give them a chance to look at their relationship before taking the proverbial plunge.
The latest guests to arrive are Leonard and his partner, Anne, a young woman of very modern views. The couple soon become aware that they are courteously, luxuriously but firmly imprisoned together. Mr. Latimer then waits to see whether exposure to the rituals of daily life and each other’s irritating habits will have the desired effect.
However, it so happens that another run-away couple are just emerging from a week of imposed co-existence and they turn out to be Leonard’s estranged wife, Eustasia, and her lover, Nicholas.
“What I love about this play is that it is similar to J.M. Barrie’s ‘Dear Brutus’ in its exploration of the possibilities of a second chance,” adds Rubins-Topoleski, who serves as the director of the production.
The Heritage Center Theatre is located at 635 North Delmorr Ave., Morrisville – near the Calhoun Street Bridge. For tickets and information, visit actorsnetbucks.org.
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