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Around the World on stage
22/07/2008 19:04 - (SA)
New York - For a humorous look at the rigours of world travel in Victorian times, take a trip with the Irish Rep's fast-paced Around the World in 80 Days adapted by Mark Brown from the Jules Verne novel.
Cool, calculating Londoner Phileas Fogg, portrayed by Daniel Stewart, makes a spur-of-the-moment decision in 1872 to take off around the world. Fogg plans to win a bet of £20 000 from his private club acquaintances by making the trip in 80 days or less.
His initial sole companion is his newly hired servant, Passepartout, played by Evan Zes.
The adventurers are whisked from London to several ports of call - including Shanghai, Bombay (Mumbai), San Francisco, New York and back again to London - by various modes of transport, aided by Joseph P Tilford's set design.
Action-packed adventure
The pair are joined by the dogged yet hapless Detective Fix, whom actor John Keating brings to life with a touch of Inspector Clouseau ineptitude. Fix believes Fogg to be a daring burglar that he is determined to apprehend, even if he must follow his quarry around the globe.
Along the way, Fogg and Passepartout attempt the rescue from a fiery death of a beautiful Parsi Indian widow, Aouda, (Lauren Elise McCord); try to recover a runaway locomotive; and survive repeated legal manoeuvring and betrayals of trust by Fix, who will stop at nothing to get his man.
The action-packed production is directed by Michael Evan Haney, who also directed the show at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.
The illusions of ship, elephant and train journeys are provided by choreography. Events are enlivened by recurring jokes and sight gags, including improbable cups of tea. They're British, after all.
- AP
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South Africa
