Praise
“The BackStage Theatre Company’s full-throttle production, directed by Brandon Bruce, features a commanding, highly physical performance by Stephen Dunn in the daunting role of Jack, aided by a confident supporting cast and Heath Hays’s inventive sound design.”
December 7th, 2011
British playwright Peter Barnes’s pitch-black 1968 comedy, which eerily prefigured the Charles Manson case, concerns a hippie aristocrat, Jack Gurney, who inherits a title and a fortune after his father’s untimely demise during a ritual of autoerotic asphyxiation. Problem is, Jack’s mad as a hatter: he thinks he’s Jesus Christ, and his gospel of universal love threatens the class system he’s duty-bound to uphold. It’s up to his family to shock him out of his delusion – with gruesome results. A ferocious mix of hilarity and horror, the play boils with religious and sexual satire, loony wordplay, and feverish energy. The BackStage Theatre Company’s full-throttle production, directed by Brandon Bruce, features a commanding, highly physical performance by Stephen Dunn in the daunting role of Jack, aided by a confident supporting cast and Heath Hays’s inventive sound design.
- Albert Williams, Chicago Reader
- Albert Williams, Chicago Reader (Read the full review)
“[Director Brandon] Bruce and his cast go beyond the cliches of the time and place to explore the deepest and darkest territories of this fascinating play . . . this is a gripping, amusing and ultimately haunting piece of theater.”
December 7th, 2011
For all the underlying strength of the material and talent of its ensemble, the Backstage Theatre’s production of Peter Barnes’ 1968 play “The Ruling Class,” directed by Brandon Bruce, suffers from a surprisingly laborious pace in its first act, but rebounds impressively over time as it develops into an intriguing and enriching narrative.
The play begins deceptively as a witty but plodding drawing room farce, in which the stuffy Gurney family (headed by David Elliott and Meredith Siemsen), following the suicide of their patriarch, attempts to retain control of the family fortune by manipulating Jack, his sole heir (the fearless Stephen Dunn).
Unfortunately, Jack is crazy, having spent the last several years in a private mental hospital being treated for his belief that he is God. The first act focuses on the charming and lovable nature of Jack’s delusion, as he is a benevolent God, “the God of Love,” as he terms himself. He is compassionate, charming and joyous. His none too approving family enlists the aid of stern Dr. Herder (Christopher Kaye) to use a form of shock therapy to bring Jack back to sound mental health. This plan is put in motion at the climax of the first act, when Jack is forced to confront “the electric messiah,” another patient who believes himself to be the Almighty (Sean Sullivan, who also designed the show’s excellent scenery).
The second act finds Jack cold, ruthless, puritanical and contemptuous of women and the lower classes, in other words, “normal” for a British aristocrat. However, we quickly learn that Jack’s madness has not left him but simply taken on a far more sinister form, as he now considers himself to be “the God of vengeance” and begins to behave in increasingly disturbing ways towards those around him.
Bruce directs with a surrealism that illuminates the unstable protagonist’s unhinged state of mind, enhanced by the use of masks and musical numbers. This is a quintessentially ’60s fable, as the cruel forces of conformity transform the eccentricities of a benign free spirit into something truly frightening and malevolent. But Bruce and his cast go beyond the cliches of the time and place to explore the deepest and darkest territories of this fascinating play. Early pacing problems aside, this is a gripping, amusing and ultimately haunting piece of theater.
- Rory Leahy, Centerstage.net
- Rory Leahy, Centerstage.net (Read the full review)
Cast & Crew
Stephen Dunn
14th Earl of Gurney
David Elliot
Sir Charles Gurney
Susan Gaspar
Mrs. Treadwell
Christopher Kaye
Dr. Herder
Katherine Keberlein
Grace Shelley
Ron Kuzava
Tucker
A native of Detroit Michigan, Ron Kuzava has been acting in Chicago since 2001. An Ensemble member since 2004, Ron has appeared in the following Backstage productions: Terra Nova (Birdy Bowers), Skin of Our Teeth (Announcer), The Ruling Class (Tucker), Bloody Bess (van Anders / Vicar) and The Memory of Water (Frank). Apart from acting, he also served as the Assistant Director for Backstage's production of Zombies from the Beyond. Ron has performed with several other Chicago companies over the years including Signal Ensemble, Theo Ubique, Chopin Theater, WNEP, Wildclaw Theater and Defiant Theater.
Jonathan Markanday
Ensemble
Eric Paskey
Dinsdale Gurney
Eric Paskey has been an ensemble member with BackStage since 2006. He is a graduate of Kent State University and the ImprovOlympic training center. Credits with BSTC include Denise Druczwski's Inferno (Phil Ligras), The Skin of Our Teeth (Telegraph Boy), Medea (Son), The Ruling Class (Dinsdale), and Aunt Dan and Lemon (Andy). Eric has also had the pleasure of working with the National Theatre for Children, Collaboraction, Signal Ensemble Theatre, Dramatis Personae, Rubicon Theater Project, Halcyon Theatre Company, Arts/Lanes, and New Leaf Theatre. He is a devoted fan of Cleveland's professional sports teams and a pitcher for the Second City and iO softball teams. Little known fact: as a child, Eric had Who Framed Roger Rabbit completely memorized!
Karensa Peterson
Mrs. Piggot-Jones
Will Schutz
Bishop Lampton
Meredith Siemsen
Lady Claire Gurney
Sean Sullivan
McKyle
Sean hails from Ohio where he earned a BA in theatre from The Ohio State University. Sean has been an ensemble member with BackStage Theatre Company since his appearance as Roald Amundsen in Terra Nova (Jeff Recommended). Since then, he has performed as Henry Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teeth (Jeff Award Winning), and as McKyle, the God of Electricity, in The Ruling Class. Sean was also the master carpenter for The Skin of Our Teeth and scenic designer/carpenter for Anton in Showbusiness (Jeff Recommended), Denise Druckzewski’s Inferno (Jeff Recommended), and The Ruling Class. Sean freelances as a carpenter and stagehand in theatre and television for companies such as Chicago Scenic Studios, Inc. and Harpo Studios, Inc. Away from BackStage, Sean has appeared on stage with Timeline Theatre in The General from America (Jeff Recommended), as Floyd in Fiorello! (Jeff Award Winning), and as Joe in The Children’s Hour (Jeff Recommended). Sean was then cast as M’Ling in Lifeline Theatre’s The Island of Dr. Moreau (Jeff Award Winning). In 2008, Sean was the title character, Harlan ‘Mountain’ McClintock in Shattered Globe’s production of Requiem for a Heavyweight (Equity Jeff Award Winning) and garnered an Equity Jeff Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Principle Role for his portrayal. Sean is represented by Stewart Talent Agency and is a member of Actor’s Equity. He is currently starring as Johnny Cash in the Chicago cast of the Tony Award Winning musical, Million Dollar Quartet, now in its third year at the Apollo Theatre. Sean takes the most pride in having met and married fellow ensemble member and best friend, Megan (Frei) Sullivan.
Brandon Bruce - Director
Stephen Dunn - 14th Earl of Gurney
David Elliot - Sir Charles Gurney
Susan Gaspar - Mrs. Treadwell
Christopher Kaye - Dr. Herder
Katherine Keberlein - Grace Shelley
Jonathan Markanday - Ensemble
Karensa Peterson - Mrs. Piggot-Jones
C. Sean Piereman - Ensemble
Will Schutz - Bishop Lampton
Meredith Siemsen - Lady Claire Gurney
Phillip Winston - Ensemble
