A directorial challenge

Putting on the world premiere of a work by a playwright of international renown is no small task for any regional theater, even the Laguna Playhouse.

Andrew Barnicle has been artistic director at the playhouse for more than 15 years. With more than 30 playhouse productions under his belt, he has directed Shakespeare, Steve Martin, David Mamet, W. Somerset Maugham and more.

But now his task is to introduce Bernard Farrell’s new play, “The Verdi Girls,” to the world. The show opens next weekend.

Four of Barnicle’s past productions are by Farrell, but this is the first time Barnicle has directed something of his that the playhouse commissioned.

In the play, opera aficionados from around the world converge in Milan for an annual Verdi Weekend. The singular purpose of the event is quickly mired in individual agendas and sordid histories, to great comic and dramatic effect.

“I laughed out loud when I first read the script,” Barnicle said.

While Farrell was in town recently, he and Barnicle worked together to fine-tune the script. Farrell usually writes Irish characters, but several characters in “The Verdi Girls” are American and Canadian.

“We suggested that he write an American character,” Barnicle said. “I hoped it would be set in Ireland; he set it in Milan.”

This caused the need to tweak words like “yes” into “yeah,” while Farrell was in the States.

“Sometimes his Irish syntax tends to creep into everyone’s dialogue,” Barnicle said.

The playhouse premiere presents a bit of a different dynamic for Barnicle’s directing, he said. But he refrained from making any major changes to the play.

“We didn’t really go through any kind of process of whittling down the script before bringing it into rehearsal,” he said. “You don’t really know what needs to be changed until you see it on stage.”

Barnicle’s familiarity with Farrell’s plays will come in handy while he’s directing “The Verdi Girls,” in which cross-dialogue is profuse.

“Most of his plays tend to be about disparate people coming together, and the sparks fly,” Barnicle said.

Barnicle molds his actors, guiding comedic and tense moments into high and low points in order to produce the desired effect.

He describes the characters as “people who are so self-absorbed that they obsess about things that don’t matter to the rest of us, to the point of absurdity.”

Perfect fodder for a play, or a Verdi opera.

“When it all explodes into mayhem, you see how selfish people really behave,” he said.

Barnicle has his directing cut out for him in “The Verdi Girls.” No one character dominates; each has their moment in the sun.

“The strongest personality in the room will direct the play,” Barnicle wrote in a new compilation, “The Backstage Guide to Working in Regional Theater,” by Cal State Fullerton professor Jim Volz. So it’s up to him to keep the characters in line, with precise directing and staging.

“The play functions on lots of different levels at once,” Barnicle said. Strong emotions and mysteries are cloaked within fast-paced dialogue and physical comedy. (Keep an eye out for the ironing board.)

Although the play uses many musical selections from Verdi operas, Barnicle doesn’t call himself an opera buff.

“But it’s enhanced my understanding and appreciation of Verdi,” he said.

Another challenge for Barnicle and crew was figuring out how to make it rain on part of the set for five minutes.

“This is definitely one of the most intricate sets that I’ve seen here in 20 years,” said playhouse communications director Chris Trela.

Another part of Farrell’s play requires a setup of game-show-style buzzers, run with motorcycle batteries.

“You don’t just go to the buzzer shop and buy a buzzer,” Trela said. “They’re really pushing themselves, I think. He’s written it as though it’s a film, but it’s a play.”