Arts & Entertainment

Patch Talk: Gail Pierce on the Finer Points of Directing, Sherlock Holmes

The Village Players production of "The Penultimate Problem of Sherlock Holmes" is under way, and director Gail Pierce, a founder of the community theater troupe, came out of retirement to direct the effort.

 

In every interview she gives, Gail Pierce is sure to pay tribute to James McCabe, the namesake for the theater in Valrico that serves as a home for the Village Players.

With some 30 years under its belt, the community theater troupe is back on stage with "The Penultimate Problem of Sherlock Holmes," a play that Pierce said would fit the tastes of McCabe for a show that tests the finer points of both acting and directing.

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Pierce was instrumental in helping to launch the theater company with McCabe, and now, she said, she is out of retirement from the troupe to direct a show she had "planned to do a long time ago."

Brandon Patch caught up with Pierce at the theater, at a pick-up rehearsal for the show on the eve of its second weekend of a three-weekend run.

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BRANDON PATCH: Why did you want to direct "The Penultimate Problem of Sherlock Holmes?"

  • PIERCE: I like period plays. I love a play that has history behind it, or a meaning. It's a great tool for actors and directors, for them to use all their finer acting abilities. It has to be done well. You can't do it halfway, it has to be done incredibly well. It's an actor's dream of summer stock. It's a director's dream of directorial exercise. It fine tunes the art for all parties involved.

BRANDON PATCH: How hard was it to cast the show?

  • PIERCE: Actually, when the news came out that we were doing the show there wasn't a lot of responses, but the responses I got, the actors were very serious about being in a Sherlock Holmes play. They were very dedicated. They wanted to be a part of this show.

BRANDON PATCH: What surprised you about the show?

  • PIERCE: It was everything I wanted. It was everything I expected. Nothing surprised me at all. I gave it 110 percent. They gave me 110 percent. Every one of those people on stage, backstage and in the lighting booth are intricate parts of making the whole.

BRANDON PATCH: What do  you hope moves your audiences the most?

  • PIERCE: That a non-musical can be just as beautiful and entertaining as a musical and that it can also be more informative and entertaining and historical at the same time.

BRANDON PATCH: Why is Sherlock Holmes such an endearing character?

  • PIERCE: He is the epitome of logic and reason and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made him human, with faults.

BRANDON PATCH: What is your approach to directing?

  • PIERCE: My approach to directing is old school. I bring out not only the character, I bring out the character within the individual I cast and the two become one. I don't negate one for the other. I merge the two, and so no show I've ever directed can be duplicated.

BRANDON PATCH: Advice for directors?

  • PIERCE: Believe in yourself. Believe in your characters and their instincts. Have a great eye for detail and bring your cast together in a cohesive unit, where one cannot exist without the other and they all become a whole. Then you've got a show that is virtually flawless, and if there is a flaw, any audience member would forgive it because they would feel a part of the show and of the cohesiveness of the group being a unit, a family.

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IF YOU GO:

Remaining show dates and times are 13-14 and 20-21, at 7 p.m. Also, Jan. 15 at 2:30 p.m. Cost is $12 at the door and $10 in advance from a cast member. The James McCabe Theater is at 506 Fifth Street in Valrico. For information, call: 813-300-1817.

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