Alex Richardson and Sydney Dexter in “Around the World in 80 Days" at the Mockingbird on Main -- March 4 through 12.
Friday, March 4, through Saturday, March 12
The Mockingbird on Main, 320 North Main Street, Davenport IA
One of the best-loved adventures in world literature enjoys a brand-new stage version when Davenport's Mockingbird on Main presents its March 4 through 12 run of Around the World in 80 Days, a two-actor take on Jules Verne's 1872 novel that has been adapted numerous times for the stage, radio, video games, and film, with its 1956 movie version the winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture.
In Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, readers are introduced to Phileas Fogg, a very precise man who regularly goes to the Reform Club every evening. At one such visit to play cards, Fogg gets into a conversation with his fellow card players as to whether it is possible to go around the world in the allotted time of the book's title. He believes that it is and is challenged to complete the adventure, at which point Fogg and his French valet Jean Passepartout begin their trek and readers experience their amazing adventures. Yet while the pair travels to locales such as Brindisi, Suez, Bombay, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco, New York, and Liverpool, Scotland Yard's Detective Fix follows them everywhere, believing that Fogg is actually the thief who has robbed a great sum from the bank of England. Fix consequently places obstacles in Fogg’s path in order to arrest him when he gets the warrant from England, and what follows in Around the World in 80 Days is a fast-faced, funny, and exciting adventure that has charmed readers and audiences for generations.
Serving as creator, producer, and co-director for Around the World in 80 Days is the Mockingbird on Main's co-founder Tristan Layne Tapscott, who recently directed and co-created his venue's wintertime production Deck the Halls: A Holiday Musical, and can currently be seen among the cast of the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's slapstick comedy The Play That Goes Wrong. Assuming co-directing duties for the production is venue veteran Doug Kutzli, whose performances for the theatre include roles in Deck the Halls and An Enemy of the People, while Mockingbird co-founder Savannah Bay Strandin (also currently appearing in The Play That Goes Wrong) serves as the adventure comedy's designer.
And assuming all of Verne's multitudinous roles in this two-actor adaptation are Sydney Dexter (portraying Fogg and many others) and Alex Richardson (portraying Passepartout and many others), whose additional area credits, respectively include roles in Circa '21's Disenchanted and the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Prescription: Murder. “I have always loved this novel," said Tapscott, "and always thought it would be fun to see how inventive we could get with madcap comedic abridged version of it!” And Strandin stated, “The show is all fun and laughter provides the perfect getaway from the tumultuous world.”
Around the World in 80 Days' Davenport engagement runs March 4 through 12, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and admission is $15. For more information and tickets, visit TheMockingbirdOnMain.com.
