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BEST Divadlo Presents Third Show of The Season, Barefoot In The Park by Neil Simon

BEST divadlo will present the third show this season starting January 27th. See the full details of the event on Facebook. The tickets can be purchased at the door or via GoOut. Photo credit: Tom Karola.

Brno, Jan 21 (BD) – Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy written in 1963 by Neil Simon. During the same year, it premiered on Broadway and later ran for 1,530 performances, winning a Tony Award for director Mike Nichols. Thanks to this play, Neil Simon was firmly established as a master of comedy with his sharp wit, firm structure, and vivid characterizations of middle class urban dwellers.[1]

The director Rana Bilecan took some time to tell us more about the play. This is her directing debut, and as an assistant director in the past, she was very much looking forward to trying the role of a director herself.

Director Rana Bilecan. Photo credit: Olga Popova.

Rana considers this to be a huge challenge as she understands the need to keep the audience interested in the comedy of the moment which runs throughout the play. “The play should be fast, the jokes clear and the characters proportioned correctly, because they are neither the characters of Commedia dell’Arte nor grotesque.”

Rehearsal. Photo credit: Tom Karola.

We asked her about the characters that actually create this play: “They all can be easily found in the real world. The main characters Corie and Paul are newlyweds moving into their first – very small – apartment in New York. Corie is passionate, romantic, impulsive and enthusiastic, while her husband is a reasonable, patient, maybe even “boring” young lawyer who is focused on his career and financial issues…”

After a short pause she goes on “..and when we add Corie’s mother to these – which is my favourite character by the way – a widow, a lonely woman that can not really handle her daughter’s lifestyle and Corrie’s neighbour, Victor, an eccentric womanizer, a gourmet cook who shares Corie’s sense of humour, the play has its characters in place for a humorous, light-weight comedy.”

The main characters – Corrie and Paul. Photo credit: Tom Karola.

And why is Rana’s favourite character the mother? “There is no specific reason actually, I just really like her inability to hide her real thoughts and feelings, it is the time in the play I am having the most fun.”

Rehearsal. Photo credit: Tom Karola.

With these words, she invites her audience to come see the play for themselves, “Barefoot in the Park is dealing not only with the subject of marriage, as there are so many different relationship dynamics which make the play funny and interesting. All characters have their own perception of life and characters’ own smart way to express them is hilarious as much as natural. If you want to have a good laugh, you are very welcome to our show.”


[1] WILLIAMS Tom, Barefoot In the Park, https://chicagocritic.com/barefoot-in-the-park/

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