Interview: Jules Aaron Discusses Agatha Christie's THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS at Group Rep
By: Don Grigware Mar. 21, 2019
Director Jules Aaron is one of the busiest and most renowned local directors working in the field. He has helmed too many plays to mention here, but be it known that he is constantly sought after. Currently prepping Agatha Christie's The Secret of Chimneys for a March 29 opening at Group Rep in NoHo, Aaron took time away from his schedule to talk about the play.
Tell me about the play. The Secret of Chimneys. How does it rate among Christie's masterpieces?
Lost for thirty years, The Secret of Chimneys is one of Agatha Christie's least known plays and one of the most intriguing. While it does not have the sleek veneer and brilliant solution of a Murder on the Orient Express, it is a delightful comedy of manners with a very prestigious dead body. There is no Poirot or Miss Marple, but there is fun repartee between the leading could be lovers, Anthony and Virginia, as well as a sly game of cat and mouse with Anthony and the deceivingly pedestrian Superintendent Battle ("no flies on him" Anthony tells Virginia.) .And also the mystery humorously comments on itself ("Suspicious stranger, eh? So obvious you can hardly believe in it. A mysterious stranger with a beard": or, "well, no handcuffs for one, Superintendent")
Why do you think audiences love mysteries so much?
I believe audiences like mysteries because they're like good roller coaster rides. You never know where the curves and drops will be. And hopefully at the end you're satisfied at a delightful ride. And if you come back again, you'll find there are no factual cheats -- just a few red herrings. Chimneys has three interweaving plots, in addition to a wild international cast of fourteen characters, there is even a missing black diamond necklace of Herzoslovakia, a secret sliding wall and the menacing Baltic servant Boris.
Tell us about your cast.
The cast, as we are lucky enough to honestly say, is really a dream one -- and a great ensemble. I've directed over half of the eleven (one actor plays several roles, and truthfully we've had a lot of fun (and naturally a bit of a work out) putting the many pieces together. My leads have great chemistry, and we hopefully have put ourselves in a British country home in 1947, where I have cast an actress playing a sharp British business woman (Me, Too) with Margaret Thatcher to come years later. With dialect coach Linda Brennan, we've worked hard on the play's several dialects, and I had a chance to choreograph some large stage pictures.
What is the funniest play you have ever directed? Why? Be specific!
I'm afraid the funniest play I ever directed is too obvious, the ever popular Noises Off. Frayn's craftsmanship, as we as the remarkable depth of the actors playing Actors, cannot be beaten. The flow of the three acts, moving on stage, back stage and on stage again (later in the run of the play within the play) is genius. I've directed the show twice, and my major request was having the second act set early in rehearsal (because comic timing is impossible without the levels, doors, steps and the backstage paraphernalia). We always want to know what goes on behind the scene in a play, and we get it in spades in Noises Off -- in all it's a huge belly laugh splendor.
What do you believe is the audience take away?
As for what the audience should take away from Chimneys, there is the obvious joy of trying to figure out a complex mystery, hopefully laughs and the visual fun of a period piece. And as a bonus, considering today's politics, a bit of nasty political scheming may feel familiar.
What's up next for you?
And my plans: an evening of monologues about the homeless produced by Theatre 40, and a workshop of "I Will, I Can", a musical bio on Sammy Davis Jr. produced in N.Y. by Arlie Cone.
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