Coming off of this year’s smash hit, “Disco Inferno”, the Walpole drama department continued to impress last week, on Friday, May 1 and Saturday May 2, as they performed for the third largest crowd in spring play history. To the tune of over 50 people each night, the Walpole Players performed a collection of offbeat and comedic shows including “Mr. Preble Gets Rid of His Wife”, “Road to Ruin”, “An Actor’s Nightmare” and more.
The cast consisted of 15 returning members and one new member, senior Alex Nannicelli. Each member was cast as a speaking role in this year’s production and each performed their part well. Memorizing your line is the hardest part of any production and, with only two weeks to do so, the cast worked hard to prepare for the shows. Though the Walpole Players had little time to rehearse and throw this quirky play together, they pulled it off flawlessly and generally pleased the audience.
The play opened up with and unsual one act excerpt from James Thurber’s “A Thurber Carnival”. A skit about a husband named Mr. Prebel – played by Dave Frizzell – who suddenly falls in love with his stenographer – played by Julianna Donaher – and tries to get rid of his wife, Mrs. Preble – played by myself- goes along with his plan giving him useful tips on how not to get caught. However, in a turn of events Mrs preble backs her husband into a corner and intends to kill him and throw him in a ditch. Just as Mrs. Preble is about to off her husband with a wrench he decides it would be best off to just go to bed. The rest of the night went on with similar oddly humorous one act skits and the audeince seemed to particularly enjoy “An Actor’s Nightmare” with drama club regulars such as Seniors Jen Herrmann and Brian Gaffey. Junior Tim Roberts left the audience frightened when he came out as an executioner dressed in a terrifying mask and accompanied by a rather large and frightening axe. The horror was heightened as he ended the skit “An Actor’s Nightmare” by chopping off Jack’s – played by freshmen Luke Witherell – head.
The Walpole Players have had an overall successful year, racking up audiences that have broken all the records. With an above average attendance for the fall play, the biggest audience in 13 years for the musical, and the third largest audience in drama club history for the spring plays, the club has had an efficacious year. This rise of the drama club this year has been quite the journey, making the spring play a perfect ending to a memorable year.
