Let me sum up...

Hi, blog-ites! Emily Townley, aka Alpiew, here. Just wanted to make sure you all saw this fab little video (included below) the cast and director of The Gaming Table put together recently to help explain what our play is all about. Given that the plot of the show is a little twisty and turny (and that we filmed this video at 9:45am—not traditionally a great time of day for us night owl artistic types), the video may either clear things up for you… or confuse you even more!

I recently asked the cast for some one-word answers describing a few things in the play, and what I got was sort of like those one-word refrigerator magnet sets that you can jumble up to make strange sentences. When asked to describe the overriding SUPER-OBJECTIVE of each of their characters, I was told: to Win (by 3 different folks), Understanding (by 2 different actors), Sir Courtly (hmmm… Sir Courtly is an interesting objective), Fun/Shore Leave, Control, Marriage, to Please, Matchmaking, and Enjoyment.

To describe the one most dominant EMOTION of their character, cast members said: Desire, Intrigue, Delight, Passion, Mirth, Pissy, Love (2 actors chose this), Tickled, Lust, Ennui, and Frustration.

And, my favorite group of answers, which might go a little way to explaining a bit about our show, when asked to describe in one-word the overall ENERGY of the piece, cast members said: Pressured, Flitting, Swish, Spritely, Lunacy, Extreme, Constant, Frothy, Ridiculous, Quicksilver, Gaiety, and Burst-y (thanks to Marcus Kyd for that one!)

So without further ado, here’s our “Burst-y” video!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb745tw2sW8]

Clear, now? Um… probably not. So, in the words of Inigo Montoya, “let me sum up” – Lord Worthy pines for Lady Reveller who secretly  loves him back but will never capitulate; Courtly pines for Lucy who secretly loves him back but will also never capitulate (stubborn women!); Valeria and Lovely love each other but are being kept apart by Valeria’s father, Sir Plainman, who wishes to marry her off to a man of higher rank and status; Mr. Sago loves his wife, Mrs. Sago, who in turn loves to gamble away her husband’s money at Lady Reveller’s nightly card games; Alpiew, the lady’s maid, and Buckle, the serving man, may possibly love each other but really enjoy a good laugh and intrigue even more; and Captain Hearty, the sea captain, “hates the French….and enjoys a Good Bowl o’ Punch.” Hope that helps!

(And check out this little candid photo I took yesterday of some behind-the-scenes action of a few of the cast members doing backstage gaming research during their down time. Yeah, that’s it… research)

Discounted preview performances begin Tuesday, January 24. Get your tickets today and join us!

Talk to you soon!