INTERVIEW: Follow Phileas Fogg as he traverses the world in ’80 Days’
Photo: Around the World in 80 Days follows the adventures of Phileas Fogg. Photo courtesy of Robert Day / Provided by The New Victory with permission.
Around the World in 80 Days, the beloved classic tale by Jules Verne, has been adapted for the stage by The New Vic Staffordshire in England, and now the theatrical adventure has made its way to New York City, where it plays through May 19 at The New Victory Theater on 42nd Street.
In the show, Phileas Fogg and his sidekick, Passepartout, leave behind London and head out to conduct a 360-degree traverse around planet Earth, all within 80 days. They reach each of the continents on a whirlwind adventure that sees them interacting with many cultures and constantly thinking about the clock.
Kirsten Foster is one of the stars of the child-friendly production. She plays multiple characters, but her main role is Mrs. Aouda.
Foster came to the production after a casting director saw her perform at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
“The Vic is generally a word that has popped up in my life quite a lot,” Foster said in a recent phone interview. “I trained at the Bristol Vic Theatre School, and so did Andy [Pollard], who plays Phileas Fogg. … The only link being that Anji Carroll, who originally cast the show, she came down to the Bristol Vic Theatre School when I was still there, and she met all the students there. And then she was the one who recommended the director meet me — the director, Theresa Heskins, who is the artistic director of the New Vic, Staffordshire. So that’s kind of how I got involved with the show because Anji Carroll, the casting director, came to see me down at the school.”
The rehearsals for the two-hour show were filled with good times and improvisation. Foster remembers being in that room with the cast and simply having fun with the material. Now their journey — and the journey in the show — comes full circle with their arrival in the Big Apple.
“At some point in the show we arrive in New York, and kind of thinking back to rehearsing it in Staffordshire at the New Vic and kind of going, oh, we’re in New York, so we need to use New York accents,” she said. “Then six years later … we’re in New York on 42nd Street at The New Victory, and so it does feel really special because in a weird way it feels like we’re kind of mirroring the show in the fact that we start in England, and now we’re in New York. And who knows where we’re going to go next with the show, hopefully all around the world. That would be amazing.”
In the Playbill, Foster is listed as playing two characters, but in fact she fills in for many roles on stage. After all, a relatively small company must populate the entire world for Fogg’s adventures.
“I play quite a few characters in lots of different countries … England, France, Italy,” she said. “And that’s all to do very much with physicality and props and learning different languages. I’ve learned a lot of French. I’ve learned a lot of Italian. We learned … some Chinese. We basically rely on our accents, our languages and our physicality as well as props, so we’re constantly changing, putting on different hats, putting on different costumes to show basically all the places around the world. Then, the character I play, her name is Aouda, and she’s basically the widow to a very wealth raj in India and about to be burnt to death. … But she’s rescued by Fogg and his companion, Passepartout, and then she goes on this journey around the world with them.”
Foster approaches the character by making her in awe of everything and everyone she encounters. She’s a curious person and sees wonder in the world.
“That kind of rubs off on Phileas Fogg, who is very precise and very logical and barely looks up from his tour book of Around the World because he’s trying to get around the world in 80 days, and in order to do that, he has to catch this specific train and get on that specific boat,” she said. “And so his head is very much in his books most of the time, and then he meets her. And she kind of shows him how beautiful and wonderful the world can be, in all of its crazy chaos, so I’d say that she’s just very childlike. She sees the world through these rose-tinted glasses. … She kind of influences him to see the world like that as well.”
Performing the play has been a joy, especially for the youngsters in the crowd. Many of them are experiencing theater for the first time when they take in a performance of Around the World in 80 Days at The New Victory.
“Kids are the best audiences because kids have no filter,” Foster said. “They haven’t been to the theater before, so their reactions are their truthful reactions. … We just did a show to 500 school children, and it was electric in that audience because they’re reacting to everything so truthfully and with so much gusto and enthusiasm, and it just gives you this energy on stage as a performer. They’re really listening. They’re really engaged. They’re really reacting to things, and like I said, they’re reaction is so truthful. The feedback is instantaneous, so if you do something and it doesn’t quite land, you know it hasn’t quite landed. Or if you do something that really lands and really makes them laugh and really makes them cry, or you get the occasional ‘awww’ in the audience, you know pretty much immediately. It’s really nice. I love performing for kids because you get that truth from them immediately.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Around the World in 80 Days, adapted by Laura Eason and directed by Theresa Heskins, plays through May 19 at The New Victory on 42nd Street in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
