Press Release: Busybody

October 2018

Metro Theatre is excited to bring BUSYBODY written by Jack Popplewell and directed by Rebecca Walters  to our stage  October 27 – November 17.

In this brilliant crime comedy, cleaning lady Lily Piper finds the dead body of Richard Marshall, her own employer. Lily is hardly shocked, as she didn’t like her boss that much anyway. Problems arise when the police inspector – already annoyed by Lily’s interference – arrives and the body has disappeared.

As if that wasn’t enough, Richard Marshall – the supposed deceased – comes walking through the door as fresh as a daisy! Now Lily’s had enough; there WAS a corpse! And indeed one is found – but now it’s Mrs. Marshall’s lover who is dead.  Busybody Lily is in her element, taking matters out of the miffed inspector’s hands more than once, as she solves the case in her own snoopy way.

Director Rebecca Walters describes the show as ‘Mad Men’ meets ‘Miss Marple’, with a healthy dose of Cockney sass and comedic chaos, Busybody is funny, clever, and more than a little bit murder-y.”

Tickets are $25 Adult or $22 Senior/Student with a special 2 for $37 every Thursday.

Tickets can be reserved by calling the Box Office 604 266 7191 or purchased on line TICKETS

Cast and Production Team

CAST

Mrs. Piper………………………….Alison Schamberger
Richard Marshall…………………………Chris Coulter
DC Goddard…………………………………Matt Ireland
DS Baxter…………………………..………David Wallace
Claire Marshall………………………… Yasmin Tayob
Marian Selby………………….…………….Zosia Cassie
Robert Westerby…………….………James Behenna
Vickie Reynolds………………………..Piper MacLeod

PRODUCTION TEAM

Director…………………………………..…Rebecca Walters
Production Manager…………………Heather Stewart
Stage Manager…………….………Anthony Stonechild
Asst Stg Mgr…………………………………Barbara Walsh
Set Designer……………………………….………Riley Pynn
Costume Designer…………………………Sean Ullman
Lighting Designer………………….…Matthew Bissett
Properties…………………………………….Barbara Walsh
Technical Director…………………….…Jamie Horsley
General Manager………………………….…Les Erskine
Head Carpenter….…………………Robin Richardson
Scenic Painting………………Tracy-Lynn Chemaske
Set Decoration………………Tracy-Lynn Chemaske
Photography………………… Tracy-Lynn Chemaske
Graphic Design…….………………Barbara LaBounta
Wardrobe Manage.………………………Sean Ullman
Hair & Make-up……….……………………Rob Walters

The Story

BusyBody

Written by Jack Popplewell and Directed by Rebecca Walters
October 27 – November 17 with Sunday Matinées November 4 & 11

Lily Piper is an office cleaner in 1960’s London who knows everybody’s business. One night while cleaning, she finds a dead body in one of the offices – the body of her boss and the owner of the company, Richard Marshall. She calls the police, but by the time young Detective Constable Goddard arrives, the body has disappeared.

Detective Superintendent Baxter arrives on the scene, yanked from his sick-bed by the reported murder. It turns out that he and Mrs. Piper know each other, having grown up in the same neighbourhood. She is delighted to see him, a feeling that is very much not mutual!

The body is gone, but a call to his home confirms that Marshall is missing, and a bloodstained chair provides proof that some sort of mischief has occurred.

The next morning, Mrs. Piper “helps” Baxter to interrogate the other employees as they arrive: Marian Selby, the plain, dedicated secretary who held a torch for Marshall, Robert Westerby, the charming young accountant, and Vickie Reynolds, the giddy young typist, as well as Claire, Marshall’s glamourous and unfaithful wife. It looks like almost everyone had a reason to want Marshall dead. Just as Baxter is about to reveal his theory of “whodunnit”, another surprise arrives on the scene: Richard Marshall himself, very much not dead.

The next day, Lily is still convinced that a murder took place, and she is determined to find out whose. While cleaning, she has found a pair of clues – a set of keys, and a distinctive button. She shows Marshall, and tells him that she has called Baxter to give him the evidence. Goddard arrives, and confirms that the set of keys is actually his. Only slightly deterred, Lily hides the button in her “secret” pocket, only to have it stolen when a mysterious figure turns out the lights.

When Baxter arrives, all the evidence is gone, but a call to the station confirms that a dead body, missing a button exactly like the one Lily found, has turned up in a back alley. It is the body of John Cameron, the lover of Claire Marshall. After protesting that he is innocent and being set up, Marshall escapes.

It looks as though all is lost, but Lilly has a theory as to who actually killed John Cameron, and a way to prove it. While Baxter hides in a cupboard, Lily will get the killer to confess. What could possibly go wrong?”

Meet the BUSYBODY Director
Rebecca Walters

Rebecca has a BFA from UBC and an MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University. She appeared in last season’s “Calendar Girls”, as well as numerous Metro productions in the late 20^th and early 21^st Century. She loves to travel, and has worked on a kibbutz in Israel and an archaeological excavation in Coventry.

While living in DC, she worked the White House Halloween party two years in a row, and got to shake the Obamas’ hands AND pet their dog.

Rebecca has worked with theatre companies throughout the Lower Mainland and DC, and is excited to make her directing debut at Metro Theatre working with a fabulous cast, crew and production team of old friends and new.

As a director, her job is to actually BE all up in everybody’s business! The perfect role for a busybody!

Rebecca and the cast of BusyBody hosted an informal chat immediately following the show on Friday, November 2nd, 2018. Topics covered were:

• Office politics then and now: How a script from 1960’s London translates for a 21^st Century Canadian audience.
• “You have to pick it up to dial it…” Explaining old-time technology to younger cast members, or how the process is often as funny as the final product.
• Lily vs. Baxter: High status and low status in comedy.