The Social Climber You wait decades for a fairytale royal wedding. Then they all come along in the same year. Opportunities for Sponsors Le Bourgeois gentilhomme is an unjustly neglected, late Molière (1670) playscript on the evergreen theme of social mobility. This captivating, energetic, brilliantly funny, accessible, up to date adaptation brings the play to life for 21st century audiences. Logos Theatre Company, a registered charity, is producing the premiere run of 23 performances at a leading London fringe theatre in October 2011. The essential production funding is already in place. Additionally, Logos has commissioned a paperback edition of the script, featuring illustrations of the specially commissioned costume designs. The project has exceptional commercial as well as artistic potential, by virtue of the play s rarity value, the quality and topicality of the adaptation and the beauty of the costume designs. Logos now seeks sponsors to enhance the intrinsic value of the production and to ensure that it achieves the widest possible appeal. This document describes the opportunities for sponsors to become associated with this unique, high quality, not-for-profit theatrical and literary event. 1
A Rare Molière Play Logos Theatre Company, registered charity number 1117553, is producing the premiere run of a new adaptation of an unjustly neglected Molière play: Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. The production is already assured: Logos has committed the funds for 23 performances at a leading London fringe venue (Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate) in October 2011. How You Can Help Sponsorship Opportunities The charity now seeks the support of sponsors to enable further developments aimed at exploiting the project s exceptional commercial and artistic potential. Specifically: The quality and profile of the production may be greatly enhanced by commissioning costumes based on the new designs already commissioned. By supporting this initiative, sponsors will be associated with the work of a prestigious, BAFTA-nominated costume designer. Logos is publishing the script of The Social Climber as a means of engaging national media interest in what is likely to be a significant cultural event (on account of the play s topicality and rarity value). By supporting Logos promotional initiatives, sponsors stand to benefit from their altruistic links with this exceptional, not-for-profit production. Further information about the project, and about the work of Logos, is set out in the following pages, including links to audio-visual presentations on the project websites. The Logos charity welcomes sponsorship at all levels, from small, individual contributions to more broadly based partnerships with commercial and cultural organisations and institutions willing to offer financial support or sponsorship in kind (such as providing materials for costumes, hosting events, mailing out promotional literature, providing advertising space, publishing news features or editorial comment, and so on). 2
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme Why does this play deserve to be revived? It is a mature Molière work, written just three years before his death. It is a satire on social climbing, particularly topical in this royal wedding year, when upward social mobility is so much in the news. It deserves a place among the canon of best known Molière satires on human foibles: Le Tartuffe (hypocrisy), Le Misanthrope (misanthropy), Le Malade imaginaire (hypochondria), L Avare (greed). Why is it relatively unfamiliar? Le Bourgeois gentilhomme is not just a play, but a comédie-ballet, a court spectacular for Molière s patron, Louis XIV, written in collaboration with composer Jean-Baptiste Lully. It demands musical resources far beyond the means of most 21st century producers. Without Lully s music, the play is almost unintelligible, since the plot does not begin to unfold until the beginning of the third act. How does this adaptation help? The Social Climber makes the play clear for modern theatre-goers by reordering the action and replacing the classical five-act structure with the more familiar format of two acts plus interval. The performing resources are considerably reduced. The Social Climber may be produced effectively using only four male and four female actors. The characters and action are true to Molière, but the language is modern, making the play enjoyable for 21st century audiences. Whereas Molière s original text is in prose, The Social Climber is in rhyming verse, using exceptionally short lines that give the play remarkable pace and energy. See page 6 for further information about The Social Climber, a selection of comments by audience members at the first professional reading of the script, and a link to the project website. 3
New Adaptation - New Costumes? Logos believes that the quality, profile and prospects of the premiere production of The Social Climber could be greatly enhanced by including specially designed costumes. Authentic Molière costumes are notoriously expensive because they make extravagant use of extravagant materials. Accordingly, Logos self-funding, break-even budget for the October run of the play is based on hired costumes. With your help, however, the trust hopes to be able to commission a full set of new costumes for the production. Logos has commissioned designs from Michael Baldwin, a BAFTA nominee (for Worzel Gummidge) who has produced costumes for countless stars of film, television and theatre, including: Michael Baldwin s preliminary sketches for The Social Climber Bette Davis Deborah Kerr James Mason Margaret Rutherford Peter Sellers Vincent Price Diana Rigg Arthur Lowe The Beatles Freddie Mercury The Rolling Stones Ken Russell Prestige Association This is your opportunity for a lasting association with the work of this prestigious designer, whose designs and costumes can be expected to outlive the premiere run of the play. Visit www.michaelbaldwin.org.uk for designs, photographs and audio commentary based on 24 projects by Michael Baldwin. 4
Promotion & Development Logos believes that The Social Climber has the potential to attract audiences above and beyond the usual catchment area for the opening run, by virtue of the play s rarity value and topical theme, the quality of the script (see page 6) and, subject to sponsorship, the specially commissioned costumes. Publication of Playscript The Social Climber Website Logos break-even budget for the opening run of the production includes a significant promotional tool in the shape of a small edition of the playscript, featuring Michael Baldwin s designs, to be published in July. By promoting the script in advance of the production, the trust hopes to stimulate national media interest in the play, thereby boosting audience numbers at the opening run and increasing the chances of mounting a viable regional tour. The Social Climber website also has the potential to serve as a powerful promotional tool. Paddy Gormley has agreed to adapt the site in the months ahead in support of Logos work to develop and promote the premiere production of his adaptation. Major sponsors will be invited to place advertisements on the site, which is expected to attract many visitors. Mutual Promotional Benefits Logos is seeking sponsors support with all project development initiatives. For example, sponsors might host promotional events or assist with the funding of a publicity campaign using new media. Sponsors would stand to benefit directly from their involvement at the promotional end of things and, in due course, from the heightened profile of the project resulting from these initiatives. 5
Synopsis Monsieur Jourdain, having made his fortune as a seller of cloth, wishes to advance his social position. He buys the latest fashion items and hires expensive tutors who try in vain to teach him music, dancing, fencing and philosophy. He befriends a count, Dorante, who claims to commend Jourdain to the king. Dorante also pretends to act as a romantic go-between with an aristocratic widow, Dorimène, on Jourdain s behalf. In fact, Dorante uses the money he borrows from Jourdain to try and win Dorimène for himself. Madame Jourdain and her servant Nicole uncover the plot, which ends in utter humiliation for Jourdain. Jourdain insists that his daughter, Lucile, will marry an aristocrat. He dismisses the proposal of her lover Cléonte, whom he considers to be insufficiently high-born. Cléonte, assisted by his valet Covielle, tricks Jourdain into permitting the marriage by posing as the Grand Turk, investing Jourdain with the royal title of Mamamouchi, and claiming Lucile for his royal bride. Script This adaptation of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme remains true to Molière s 17th century setting, but uses 21st century language to make the play accessible and enjoyable for modern audiences. The script is written in proseverse: the text flows as naturally as prose, but uses metrical patterns and (often hidden) rhymes to heighten the language and enhance the comedy. The energy of the play is also increased by the use of very short lines, often with rhymes occurring every four or six syllables. The audience at the first rehearsed reading of The Social Climber in January 2011 heaped praise on the script: really up to date, full of jokes, very MADAME JOURDAIN: Good grief! It s past belief! He s wearing the upholstery. I ll say you certainly look different in curtains. Huh! As if I d be impressed to have a jester for a husband. That cloth does you little credit, Sir. Please shed it. You re already trivial enough without having that shrill creation shout it from the rooftops. What a goof you are! vivacious language, bursting with rhymes, extremely accessible, having it in verse gives it that extra life and vitality, etc. Hear the full audience commentary for yourself at www.thesocialclimber.info. The website also includes a diagram (illustrated left) that shows how Molière s scenes are transposed for greater dramatic effect in The Social Climber. 6
Logos Theatre Company Logos Theatre was founded in 1989. Founder Kenneth McClellan, who had been a working actor throughout his professional life, used his own savings to launch Sharers & Hirelings Classical Theatre Company, which was to become Logos Theatre Company in the 1990s. The company reflected Ken s philosophy of presenting plays without compromising the text, so that the audience could see the story in context and draw modern parallels for themselves. The company presented and subsequently toured unfussy productions at affordable prices, taking classical theatre to as wide an audience as possible. Early productions were largely ad hoc, and the repertoire was principally Shakespeare. However, the founder was determined from the outset to widen the definition of classic drama. He was keen to promote examples from major 20th century writers which he felt to have been unjustly neglected, such as Priestley s I Have Been Here Before and dramatisations of short stories by Chekhov. Several of the company s European plays were presented in Ken s translations, including Calderon s Life Is a Dream and Molière s School for Wives and Scapin s Tricks. Ken, who said that acting was his life, continued to work on stage despite his increasing infirmity, playing John of Gaunt in Richard II just a few weeks before his death in 2004. His bequest has enabled Logos to continue the work that meant so much to him. The Social Climber, like other recent Logos productions, follows the example of Kenneth McClellan. For example, the company produced a rarely performed play by Noël Coward, I ll Leave It To You, in 2009. In 2010, Logos produced The Importance of Being Earnest in its original, now largely forgotten, 4-act version. Logos is now a registered charity (number 1117553) and a company limited by guarantee. This is the company s first sponsorship drive, aimed at preserving the charity s financial reserve, so that Ken s literary legacy may, in turn, be preserved for many years to come. 7