EUGENE–This spring’s University Theatre production of "The Life and Times of Nicholas Nickleby" is challenging both the staff and the facility like no production in the Robinson Theatre before it.

Set to open May 18 as the culmination of a year-long celebration of the 50th-anniversary season of theatrical productions in Robinson Theatre at the University of Oregon, the Tony Award- and New York Drama Critics Circle Award-winning play will be performed in two parts during the last two weeks of May and the first week of June.

Once upon a time, University Theatre presented plays on a regular basis in the "friendly confines" of MacArthur Court–not the best "theater" in the world, but very good to contain the size of production and audience that the department wanted to attract from time to time.

With the construction of Robinson Theatre (originally known as the University Theatre) in 1949, the need to use Mac Court for grand theatrical spectacle became less of an issue. The last play mounted there was a spring 1975 production of Leonard Bernstein’s "Mass" which incorporated a full orchestra, a 50-member standing choir, a children’s choir, and 24 principal singers/dancers/actors with a stage that covered nearly half of the basketball court.

Since that time, University Theatre has found its home in the Robinson Theatre quite adequate to stage the plays and musicals it presents, according to Jack Watson, head of the UO Department of Theater Arts. As demanding as some of the productions have been, the University Theatre staff have always found a way to accommodate the large casts, the epic scenery and costume demands, and the special effects required of some of their offerings.

The cast of 32 actors for "Nicholas Nickleby" is not any larger than many of the musicals and some of the plays presented over the years. However, in most other productions, each of those actors takes on one character and maintains that portrayal throughout the show.

In "Nicholas Nickleby," six of the actors have only one character while the other 26 present four to six characters each. In all, 150 named characters appear on stage along with the general crowds of people in London and elsewhere.

The first task of the directing team–there are three directors for the project–was to break down the script in such a way that they would know which actors could take on which characters. In the casting process, they had to know how various characters would be doubled or tripled or quadrupled.

After the casting was completed in November, it became necessary for the actors to understand the flow of the play and their participation in it at every point. Normally, this would entail a read-through of the play in which all of the actors would sit around a table and read the play straight through, each reading his or her part on cue. In this instance, the directors opted to get the actors on their feet immediately, but not with the script.

The directing triumvirate of Watson, John Schmor and Jon Cole developed various improvisational games to help the actors understand the customs and reality of life in Victorian England as well as the style of the play and the method by which the story is told.

Specifically, the actors participated in movement workshops to build quick, bold characterizations that would help them create the various characters each is assigned. There also were workshops on combat and dialect, as well as some individual coaching sessions with family relationships and status relationships.

In these ways, the actors began to see how each of their roles was woven into the fabric of the whole piece. These rehearsals went on for several weeks as everyone connected with the style that was being employed for the telling of this story.

Another consideration during the early planning for the play was how to present the various locales required in the story.

The play demands many locations in London as well as in Yorkshire and in Portsmouth–far too many to create separate settings for each. Also, the flow of the story is such that it does not accommodate multiple scene changes easily.

The solution was to create a single set that could be transformed to the various locales by the use of props that the actors bring onto stage and by the dialogue of the characters. The result is that a sweeping, epic panorama is created very simply and effectively by the movement of actors and the narration of the characters.

During the second phase of rehearsals, the cast began working from the script to develop the basic movement on stage and to begin setting the tempo of the play. They worked out entrances and exits and made sure everyone knew when to be on stage and which character they were in each scene. This also served to set up the places of the story as each actor was assigned props to bring on or take off the stage from scene to scene.

During spring break, the actors were scheduled to learn their lines. Now, they are working on characterization, relationships and polishing the timing of the scenes.

"The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" was hailed as " …one of the great theatrical experiences of our time…" when it premiered in 1980 in London (1981 in New York). Watson, an associate professor of theater arts, says the cast and crew of University Theatre are finding it one of the great theatrical experiences of their own careers.

"Nicholas Nickleby" will be presented in two parts beginning on May 18 and running through June 3. Part I will be performed on Thursday nights and at Saturday matinees, with a Sunday matinee on May 21. Part II will be presented on Friday and Saturday nights, with a Sunday matinee on
May 28.

Show times are 7 p.m. for evening performances and 1 p.m. for all matinees. Tickets are available now in Eugene at the Box Office at the Hult Center, One Eugene Centre, (541) 682-5000; and on campus at the Ticket Office in the Erb Memorial Union, 1222 E. 13th Ave., 346-4363, and at the Box Office in Robinson Theatre at Villard Hall, 1109 Old Campus Lane, 346-4191.

For more information, browse http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~theatre. A taped message about University Theatre productions and activities also is available 24 hours a day by calling GuardLine from a Touch-Tone phone at 485-2000, ext. 2287.

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