Letter: Go See 'The Ruling Class' by Bolingbrook's Theatre on the Hill

“The Ruling Class” by Peter Barnes – Theatre on the Hill 
BY CRAIG T. GUSTAFSON

Not many community theaters produce “The Ruling Class.” It is a lengthy, witty script, the male lead has to have the energy of a rogue elephant with a Starbucks addiction and the cast consists of four women and a bajillion men.

This biting social satire of the British upper class by Peter Barnes was first produced in 1968 and made into a 1972 movie starring Peter O’Toole. It concerns Jack, the 14th Earl of Gurney (who thinks he is Jesus Christ) and the efforts of his pompous, greedy relatives to either cure him or commit him – preferably the latter. This is one of my favorite scripts and I was excited that Theatre on the Hill in Bolingbrook decided to produce it.

In this production, there were a lot of good things and a couple of not-so-good things – most of which are purely the reactions of a director saying, “Well, *I* wouldn’t do *that*.”

Good things: Michael Fudala’s direction was exceptional. It’s a wordy show and Michael kept it moving at a good clip. The action was smoothly blocked and the really problematic issues (such as an on-stage hanging) were handled well.

Victor Rachal was amazing as Jack. His energy carried the show and his work was fiercely intelligent and passionate.

Lorrisa Julianus made a really hot Grace. Umm… I mean – her clarity and talent shone through. Seriously, she is one of the best actors working in this area. *And* she was a hot Grace.

Raegan Kotz was perfect as the snide Claire, whose yearning for love can’t climb over her mountain of brittle bitchiness.

William Smith was a wonderfully stuffy and evil Sir Charles.

Marcus Gentry was all power as MacKyle, the High-Voltage Messiah. Terrific performance.

Really nifty two-story set.

Not-so-good things: 
• The use of rear projections for various locales was fine; I don’t know that stage productions really require opening credits. 
• Mike Brown as the Bishop needs to speak up. We were ten feet away from the guy at times and could barely hear him. Stop imitating Alastair Sim from the movie and just make yourself heard. 
• Rachal gets a little *too* speedy at times in Act One and sometimes garbles words. But that’s not fatal, since a slower Jack would drag the show to a crawl. 
• The added choral work was well done but unnecessary. 
• And in the script, “Jesus Christ, Mark I” – that’s a Roman numeral “one”, not the personal pronoun “I”. Jack is talking about the previous Jesus Christ, as opposed to himself.

This is not a show you’re going to see fourteen times in the next decade. You’ll probably never see it again, unless you rent the movie. So if you’re a theater lover, you need to see this production. It’s witty, it’s chilling and it has the best pacing I’ve ever seen at Theatre on the Hill. You have one more week. Info here:

PERFORMED INDOORS

April 12-28, 2013

The Bolingbrook Performing Arts Center (at Bolingbrook Town Center)
375 West Briarcliff - behind Bolingbrook’s Police Station
FRI & SAT: 8pm, SUN: 3pm
TICKETS: $15

Further info at www.tothbolingbrook.com or 630-908-2538
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