MC's Crimson Masque to Produce Bond's 'Bingo'

Release Date: April 10, 2002

Monmouth College's Crimson Masque will produce Edward Bond's "Bingo" April 18-21 in Wells Theater.

The curtain will open for the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday performances at 7:30 p.m., while the Sunday performance is a 2 p.m. matinee. Ticket prices are $6 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens, high school students and children; and $4 for MC students, faculty and staff. Tickets are currently on sale and may be ordered from theater professor Jim DeYoung at 309-457-2398 or jim@monm.edu.

In production at the Cleveland Playhouse and at Yale University, "Bingo" won critical acclaim, as it did earlier at the Royal Court. Set during the last few days in the life of William Shakespeare, the play was eloquently described by a Newsweek critic: "Now in retirement, the greatest of all Western artists sits in his garden at Stratford, sick unto death with the fear that his entire career has been a lie and an evasion of social and moral responsibility ... a play hewn with great intellectual and emotional force."

"The spring production is a challenging piece from an acting and technical viewpoint," said the play's director, associate professor of theater Doug Rankin. "Bond recreates the early 17th century Warwickshire region with authentic rural dialects. Noted German designer Mathias Betyna has created large, interesting settings which take Shakespeare through the last couple years of his life in the various seasons at Stratford.

"Crimson Masque alumnus Duncan McPherson has composed an accompanying score which sets the mood for this unusual drama," Rankin concluded.

Leading the 12-member cast will be Phil Johnson, a freshman from Crystal Lake, who will play the role of Shakespeare.

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