“The Cottage” may initially seem just like another crazed bedroom farce, but director Foy Tootle thinks the play has a little more substance in mind: “It poses questions about fidelity and marriage, and even about brothers and siters,” he says, while still showing the audience a wild, rollicking time. His production of the 2023 Broadway hit will open at North Georgia Community Players theater in Dillard on Friday, May 30th, running through that weekend and the next.
“It’s got everything,” Tootle continues, “bedroom humor, bathroom humor; all of it. Every character is adulterous, but you come to like them over the course of the show, and many audience members will relate to them. They’ve all been behaving very poorly, but they do raise questions that couples in the audience are going to enjoy answering for themselves.”
The comedy, set in the 1920s in England, is about three couples, each of them straining at the bit of traditional marital commitment. The action kicks into motion when Sylvia Van Kipness, (Skylar Denney), who has been in a decades-long illicit relationship with a man, decides to expose the affair both to her husband and to her lover’s wife. Surprise—the betrayed spouses are also involved with each other. Arguments, confusion, and threatened gun play follow.
Tootle says married couples will all recognize some of the motivations, if not the outrageous behavior—”We all have these feelings, we all have some straying thoughts to a degree at one time or another, at one time in our lives,” he says. “I’ve been happily married and faithful for 21 years,” he says, “and it’s all because of her.”
‘Her’ is Tootle’s wife, Julie Best, a professional artist and some-time actress (NGCP’s Sylvia); she created the poster and the marketing artwork for “The Cottage,” and created one of the portraits that decorates its elaborate set. “Julie’s not in this show, but she’s keeping an eye on it,” laughs Tootle.
Some of the actors in the show will be new to NGCP audiences, while others are old hands. Denney and Emerald Toler-Anderson, as Marjorie, have done several NGCP shows before, as has James Cash as Richard.
Skylar, as Sylvia, is really the lead and the protagonist of the show, Tootle says.
“Her character rides a roller coaster, and Skylar handles the ride! She’s worked in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and first came to Clayton as a day player in Hillbilly Elegy and loved the area so much that she and her husband moved up.” She has worked mostly in film and in commercials, and Tootle calls her a “true professional.”
“The dude I’m really proud of is Carlton Wheatley,” Tootle said. “He’s never done theater before.” Wheatley came to Tootle via his children, who have studied and acted with Tootle in the regular NGCP workshops for young people.
Said Tootle, “Carlton is surprising the (expletive) out of me! He told me he’s always hated his voice, but he’s holding his own in rehearsal, mastering the gags and gimmicks. It’s been wonderful to watch him discover a totally new world. He’s learned how different it is on the bright side of the lights.”
Olivia Cagle plays the crucial role of Deirdre, and James Cash is Richard.
And then there is…Matthew Johnson. The NGCP audience favorite was going to sit this one out, but a bit of backstage drama brought him to the central role of Beau. The Savannah-based actor originally cast in the role developed some personal problems back home and dropped out of the cast in early May—a mere month before opening night. Tootle asked Johnson to step in, and the seasoned professional veteran of the stage quickly learned his lines. The rest of the cast, Tootle said, came to enjoy Johnson’s signature comedic talents, most recently on display in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (multiple roles), 9 to 5 (the evil boss), and as co-master of ceremonies of the theater’s elaborate fundraising gala in April.
The show runs Friday, May 30th, Saturday, May 31st, Friday, June 6th, and Saturday, June 7th, all evening shows at 7 p.m. with Sunday matinees on June 1st and June 8th at 3 p.m.
Tickets are available on the NGCP website at https://www.ngcommunityplayers.com/the-cottage or by phone at (706) 212-2500.
Tootle says, above all, the audience will leave the theater feeling “tickled, really. They’ll giggle at the silliness of these humans, and humans in general. How we behave and misbehave. They’re going to laugh in their hearts, and their eyes will twinkle.”
