Actors and musicians have often worked together on performances, but tonight the actors of PlayMakers Repertory Company will pull double duty — they will play musicians.
For the production of Michael Hollinger’s “Opus,” the actors are learning to relate to a new kind of performing art, through their portrayal of a string quartet.
The play follows four musicians in a fictional string quartet and the trials that come with preparing to perform at the White House.
Premiering tonight in the Paul Green Theatre, the production is PlayMakers’ Mainstage season opener.
Brendon Fox, director of the play, said you don’t need to know anything about classical music to enjoy the show because the heart of the play is a story about a family.
“One of the four members of the quartet is brilliant but unstable and has disappeared,” Fox said. “It’s difficult for Grace, the new member, to adjust to the unkempt rehearsals of a family of musicians who sometimes get on each others’ nerves.”
He said the show will provide a spectacle entwining humor, family tribulation and lovely music.
While only one of the actors has any musical training, all of the “musicians” will appear to be playing the instruments of the quartet.
A musical illusion is created by soaking actual bows in water, allowing the stringed-instruments to be “played” without sound.
“There’s no resin on the bow which allows us to actually place the bow on the strings,” said Ray Dooley, who plays Dorian and is also a UNC drama professor.
“Our right hand moves the bow as closely as possible to the recorded music, but our left hand is not fingering the notes.”
In order to imitate actual musicians as closely as possible, professor Richard Luby, assistant chairman of the music department, was brought in to give instruction on how to hold a violin and bow.
Marianne Miller, who plays Grace in the production and is a member of the company’s graduate student program, is also a trained violinist and helped with instruction.
“The interesting thing was having to learn to mime how to play instruments,” Fox said. “It was like making a classical music video.”
While blending these contemporary techniques, the play exercises a much older feature of theater — no intermission. This idea dates back to ancient Greek dramas.
“It allows for 90 minutes of action that switches back and forth in time,” Dooley said. “It is one act of about 15 scenes leading to a climax.”
The play itself has been around for a few years, but this will be its regional premiere.
All actors in the show are repertory company members.
ATTEND THE SHOW
Time: 8 p.m. today; 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday through Oct. 11
Location: Paul Green Theatre
Info: www.playmakersrep.org
Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
