The central figure in Sandy Ruskin’s British farce is Sylvia Van Kipness, played by Sarah Gamblin.
“She is a super rash romantic who's been having this long-standing affair with her brother-in-law, and she decides on a whim to send a telegram to both her sister-in-law and her husband confessing all,” notes Gamblin.
Gamblin is grateful to the playwright for the play’s strong female characters.
“She managed to make three very distinct but very strong female characters, and they each have their own journey,” Gamblin observed. “They all come from different backgrounds, different stories. The men also are interesting. But the story is largely driven by the women.”
Gamblin compares Sandy Ruskin to Noel Coward.
“It's in a Noel Coward style. However, it was written by a woman. As a result, it features the women much more prominently in their perspective than I've seen in Noel Coward's shows.”
Jonathan Hart plays Sylvia’s love interest, Beau. He was attracted to the show precisely because it was written by Sandy Ruskin.
“The writer who wrote ‘Clue,’ the stage play, also wrote ‘The Cottage,’ Hart pointed out. “It's fast-paced like ‘Clue.’ If you love ‘Downton Abbey,’ if you love Brit Box and things on the BBC and that British humor, this show is really going to connect with you.”
MORE INFORMATION:
Paula Keenan directs “The Cottage” for The Studio Players.
The play is set in the English countryside in 1923. “In a cute little cottage, very quaint, outside London,” Gamblin noted.
The Studio Players’ production is the play’s Southwest Florida premiere.
The play runs through Jan. 25.
This week’s performances are Friday, Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Jan. 18 at 3 p.m.
For tickets, telephone 239-398-9192 or visit https://www.ticketleap.events/events/the-studio-players.
After Sylvia telegrams her husband and sister-in-law, they show up at the cottage while Sylvia and Beau are still in the delicates.
The morning goes sideways when Beau’s other mistress arrives, followed by her own murderous husband.
“And everyone is very confused for the entire show,” said Gamblin.
These revelations propel Sylvia on a rollercoaster character arc.
“Sylvia is a romantic at heart,” Gamblin explained. “She has wrapped herself up in a fantasy where she and her brother-in-law are madly in love. They're stuck in the wrong marriages, and she’s created this very fairytale-like image where Beau would be delighted and thrilled that she’d sent his wife and brother that telegram, and then they run off into the sunset together.”
That does not happen.
To the contrary, Beau is not happy that she sent the telegrams.
“Beau’s quite the cad and he's been having multiple affairs,” Hart acknowledged. “He's very vain and self-centered and doesn’t think he’s ever truly found love. So he's constantly searching for it and so he's on to the next one and to gratify his needs.”
That quickly becomes apparent to Sylvia as well.
“So, Sylvia has to come to terms with the fact the fairytale picture that she painted in her head is not reality.”
The challenge for Gamblin in playing the role is to portray her character’s transition from fairytale romantic to sober realist.
“At the start of the show, I run around on my tippy toes because in my brain, Sylvian feels like a Disney princess. She feels the morning after like this is the moment in the movie where the music is sweeping.”
To conjure and project that feeling, Gamblin pretends she’s the heroine in a Harlequin romance novel or a Hallmark romance movie. She also draws on Disney princess movies she’s seen.
“I have read some romance novels recently, and my mom watches Hallmark,” said Gamblin. “So, I've drawn on those heroines and all of the archetypes and stereotypes that go into it.”
Sylvia’s growth as a person begins when her fairytale princess bubble bursts.
“My character initially becomes very cynical, very bitter, right in the middle of the show,” Gamblin observed. “Then she has to slowly dig her way out of it. So, you see Sylvia's full arc from the peak of peaks, this romance novel-esque portrayal, and then she dips down really far into this very cynical, very jaded woman before coming to terms with being more independent and realizing that her life does not have to revolve around a man like she thought it did.”
Beyond the character arc and its resolution, Gamblin admires Ruskin’s “quippy dialogue.”
“She perfectly encapsulated the style of Noel Coward. If you watch some of his movies before coming to the show, they really mirror each other closely.”
Gamblin was last seen on the Joan Jenks stage in the Studio Players’ production of “Bus Stop” in March 2024, where she played the waitress, Elma. Her love of theater has grown since she moved to Naples and auditioned for the ensemble in “The Sound of Music.” She will appear next in “A Piece of My Heart” for The Naples Players.
Jonathan Hart’s acting journey began as a kid, but he tapped out when he got to college. “I went off and worked for MGM Studios for a bit doing behind the scenes stuff,” Hart related. “I was doing more film. That was kind of my focus, especially in college.”
He’s a graduate of the Film and Television School at Ohio University.
Hart credits his wife with his return to the stage.
“’Clue,’ which is one of our favorite films, was going to be produced by Naples Players, where she’d done a couple of other shows. So, we auditioned and I got Professor Plum and she got Mrs. White.”
Having played Plum in “Clue,” Hart was prepared for “The Cottage’s” character-driven, fast paced dialogue. But he wasn’t prepared for the heavy line load associated with his character who initially just shares the stage with Sylvia.
Hart used several mnemonic techniques to learn his lines.
“I put everything on index cards,” he said. “For the first act, I think I had nearly 300 index cards. So, it would be the cue line on the one side and then my line on the back. Then for the second act, it was like 120 or 130. But that first act is a heavy lift, for sure.”
He’s aware of the existence of apps that can help actors memorize dialogue.
“You record the whole play, and then you can just cut out your lines so that you can memorize them and hear everything that's going to happen.”
But Hart finds the acting of writing out his lines works better for him, although he concedes that there’s no substitute for rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing.
“The Cottage” marks Hart’s Studio Players debut. In addition to “Clue,” his previous credits include Tony in “West Side Story,” Sky in “Guys and Dolls” and the director in “Noises Off.” Up next is a well-deserved break, he said.
The rest of the ensemble
In addition to Gamblin and Hart, the cast includes Robert Armstrong and Amy Saad as Sylvia’s husband and Beau’s very pregnant wife, Clark and Marjorie.
Armstrong made his Studio Players debut in 2022 as Stephen in Wendy McLeod’s comedy “Slow Food,” which he followed with the role of egocentric failed actor James Wicker in “It’s Only a Play” (2024). He brandished his flawless English accent on stage twice before – as Algernon in “The Importance of Being Earnest” and Freddy in “Noises Off,” both with The Naples Players. His most recent theatrical appearance was one year ago as Joan Crawford in “Christmas with the Crawfords” at Lab Theater. Other credits include George in the Tim Sniffen parody “Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf,” Mary Sunshine in “Chicago,” Max in “Lend Me a Tenor” and Leo (and Maxine) in “Leading Ladies.”
Saad was last seen as Louise in “Prodigal Son.”
Dana Peteroy flourishes in the role of Beau’s other mistress, Dierdre, which she discharges through a medley of sight gags, pratfalls and facial expressions. Her character is a mix of Chrissy Snow and Marilyn Monroe. That is to say that she is one half sweet, ditzy and disarmingly naïve and the other half sex kitten.
While Beau finds the combination highly seductive, he doesn’t envision a life with her. But Dierdre, like Sylvia, enters the cottage under the assumption that she and Beau will be embarking on a new life together now that she’s divorced her deranged husband. And like Sylvia, she has to come to terms with the reality that Beau doesn’t love her and she doesn’t fit into his high society lifestyle.
What’s also remarkable about Peteroy’s performance is that the role of Dierdre is her first in a decade. She did theater throughout her schooling, but after earning her BA and MA in English from Florida Gulf Coast University, she devoted the ensuing four years teaching English and theater for Collier County Public Schools. She is currently Supervisor of Upper School for The Baker Day School at The Naples Players Academy of Dramatic Arts and teaches classes for the TNPA Afterschool Program as well.
Rounding out the cast is Alex Gonzalez in the role of Richard/William. This is Gonzalez’s second role for The Studio Players. He previously appeared as the bellhop and stand-in for Tito in The Studio Players’ production of “Lend Me a Tenor.”
The playwright
Sandy Rustin is a Broadway playwright and actress.
One of the most produced playwrights in America, she penned the adaptation of the cult-hit film, ‘Clue,’ which has enjoyed over 5,000 productions worldwide. The New York Times called ‘Clue’ “a welcome throwback to an era of physical comedy!”
Rustin’s original comedy, “The Cottage,” was directed by Jason Alexander (“Seinfeld,” “Pretty Woman”). It ran at The Hayes Theatre for a limited Broadway engagement that starred Eric McCormick and Laura Bell Bundy.
Her musical adaptation of MGM’s film, “Mystic Pizza” had its East Coast premiere at The Paper Mill Playhouse.
Rustin’s newest play is “The Suffragette’s Murder” (“New American Classic” – Broadway World). It won the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, was the recipient of The Denver Center’s Women’s Fund, and is a Henry Award nominee for “Best New Play.” The play premiered at The Denver Center for Performing Arts.
Rustin’s original musical, “Always Something There,” premiered at The Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre in Chicago. ("A fun, escapist cavalcade of '80s hits!" - Chicago Tribune).
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
