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“Merry Men” Plays for Laughs
Slapstick comedy, mistaken identity, music, sword fights, and poorly trained attack ferrets were all par for the course in the amusing Upper School production of “Merry Men.” Written by Kemuel DeMoville, it was the winner of the Milken Playwriting Competition.
The premise was simple enough. When Maid Marian finds out she must marry the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, she and her ladies-in-waiting transform into vigilante bandits in an attempt to thwart the nuptials. Meanwhile, the Sheriff hatches his own plan to find the leader of the bandits, Robin Hood. Then mayhem ensues.
The 75-minute show was a nonstop ride of gags and jokes. With a colorful cast of characters engaging in wacky hijinks, the play had audiences laughing out loud. Comedy has its challenges, acknowledged first year Milken Director, Sarah Figoten, “It has to be super precise, especially slapstick and physical comedy.” She worked with students getting them comfortable enough with the comedy and exploring the speed and tempo of learning jokes so that the audience could understand the punch lines.
Ryan Wilson, the fight choreographer, worked with the students on choreographing the physical comedy and complicated fight sequences. The actors attended workshops where they learned slaps, punches, shoving, falling, and sword play — learning 10 different positions. They even learned how to toss someone over their shoulder and how to pretend a ferret was attacking them. Each stunt or fight was carefully pre-planned and before each performance they executed the complicated sequences at 75-percent speed as a warm up.
“Being in Merry Men was an incredible experience. Not only did I get really close with the other cast members, but I learned a lot too. I got to learn about slapstick comedy and how to properly sword fight. While it was not easy at first, the sword fight was one of my favorite scenes to perform. The energy and intensity that came with the fight was a great way to combat the goofiness of the show. It was amazing working with my friends and laughing for hours at rehearsal, and now that it's over, I miss it a lot,” expressed Jillian Stern, who played Maid Marian.
"Despite the number of productions I had previously been a part of at Milken, I had never learned about the unique aspects of slapstick comedy and fighting choreography as I did in Merry Men,” said Eliyah Stern ’21. “Before being introduced to the intricacies of stunt work, I was unaware of the safety precautions that were taken, but [at first I] was still a bit apprehensive about doing stunt falls. Once I got the hang of it, however, it made my experience that much more enjoyable, both in rehearsal and in my general knowledge of theater," added Stern, who played the Minstrel and was part of the Nottinghamshire Militia.
"Doing this slapstick style comedy was definitely different from my previous experiences in theatre, although it was some of the most fun I've had in the show because you get to be creative, adding and changing elements and also have fun letting the dynamic flow. The show as a whole gave me the opportunity to interact with many other creative people and was an incredibly enjoyable and lively experience," noted Benjamin Bakhaj ’21, who played Guy and was part of the Nottinghamshire Militia.
The show featured a young cast, with only one senior. Upperclassmen took leadership roles and helped mentor the underclassmen. “It was cool to see the leaders of the group take the younger students under their wings and all became a family,” stated Figoten.
The evening opened with a pre-show sketch written by Maya Grinstein ’20 for her advanced acting class. The actors broke the fourth wall—the imaginary wall that separates the actors from the audience— as they engaged with the audience during the warm up.
Following the Wednesday night performance, there was a Q&A with the playwright. DeMoville revealed he had written the play with his own kids in mind and wanted it to be something that they would have fun watching. He explained how he conducted extensive research of the Robin Hood tale and the May Plays performance tradition during the renaissance.
“Laughter is such a gift for both the performer and the audience so it was a real treat to get to be welcomed to Milken in a show that just made people laugh,” remarked Figoten.
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