![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/DSC7363rt-1.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cWe\u2019ve chosen to set it in 1978,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is a British play. It takes place somewhere in the north of England. It\u2019s rather vague as to where it is. It\u2019s a fairly small town and it\u2019s an amateur theatre group but they get into all kinds of stuff behind the scenes so there\u2019s love affairs and nefarious business dealings going on and that kind of thing. So, in a way, that\u2019s reflected in the plotline of The Beggar\u2019s Opera<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merk has her reasons for setting A Chorus of Disapproval <\/i>in the \u201970s. She doesn\u2019t want to say too much, but she says there\u2019s a scene where two characters are \u201cengaging in an activity that was very typical of the 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to give it away because it\u2019s a big part of the comedy in the play,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I thought this would be really fun. The play was actually written around 1985 so it\u2019s not that different. Also, some of the clothing in 1978 was so outrageous and the colours were so gaudy\u2014especially the men. Men were much more colourful in the \u201970s than they are nowadays; I mean, we all were, sort of. So it\u2019s a fun look for the costumers.\u201d<\/p>\n
As it turns out, outfitting a cast of 17 amateur actors in garb from both 1978 and 1728 is no easy task.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge job for the costumer, Pearl Arden, and she\u2019s done an amazing job,\u201d says Merk. \u201cShe does have people helping her but she\u2019s done the main part of it. It\u2019s a lot of costumes and wigs to keep track of\u2026 and shoes and boots.\u201d<\/p>\n The costumes are just the tip of the iceberg. A Chorus of Disapproval <\/i>is a play inside a play, which means multiple sets, a challenge Merk chose to tackle by incorporating the transitions into the play instead of leaving the audience in the dark.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided I didn\u2019t want to have blackouts because there are quite a few set changes and there are these little snippets of songs that are interspersed between scenes, where one character is standing at one end of the stage and just singing the song, and the song kind of reflects what\u2019s going on in the scene, but I didn\u2019t want to have a blackout every time that occurred,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re using what we call periactoids\u2014three flats on one unit you can revolve and change the set. You can roll them up and down. So they are being used to give the impression of, \u2018Oh, this is a different scene. This is a cafe, or this is a pub, or The Beggar\u2019s Opera<\/i> set.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Despite its challenges, Merk says that she is excited about the production.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very well written play,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s very funny and there\u2019s a lot of depth to all the characters, which is really nice. They\u2019re not just superficial, slapstick characters.\u201d<\/p>\n