Bed Among the Lentils - 2016 Performances

Paul Rapsey presented “Bed Among the Lentils”, the award winning script by British playwright Alan Bennett in various venues in Ontario, Nova Scotia and England in 2016. The performances were a resounding success.

Paul returned to his first passion of acting after retiring from a thirty-year career in social justice law in 2015. During the 1970s he performed in many genres including summer stock, childrens' theatre, avant garde, classical theatre and mime. He gave up his professional theatre memberships (ACTRA and Equity) in 1995 when law seemed to offer him all the theatrics he needed at the time. He has now chosen to only undertake roles that challenge his mind and his skills, and that also challenge society’s stereotypes. He prefers simple sets and relies on the power of a playwright’s words and the engagement of an audience’s imagination to create vital characters and mood.

The play is a one–hour monologue written by Mr. Bennett in 1987 as a screen play for the BBC series “Talking Heads”. It is the story in five acts of Susan, a disaffected Vicar’s wife in the north of England. Susan faces life with passive aggression. She is unhappy in her relationship with her ambitious and self-centred husband, with her role in the church community and the people who impose on her. She touches upon clandestine moments of passion and intellectual stimulation, but retreats to mediocrity, at least temporarily. The story touches on dysfunctional relationships, racism, sexism, religious faith, integrity, substance abuse and despair, but it does so with humour and poise.

Paul admits to having been too old for this role by 15 or more years, too heavy by 50 or more pounds, and being a man, also admits to various other obvious physiological shortcomings. However, although the audience would see a man walk onto the stage, he hoped they would soon perceive Susan. That is the actor’s art. Indeed, the accolades he received clearly indicate they did. This is a rehearsal video of Scenes 1 & 2 of the play: Lentils - Scenes 1 & 2.

“Bed Among the Lentils” was presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.

Comments

One's Company Now a Film

I am not a filmmaker. But Covid has forced me to become one, to a degree. I decided to turn this stage play into a one-hour film in the "talking head" genre. I have not decided what if anything I will do with this film other than make it available to my few fans on YouTube. I am not sure exactly how to categorize this film. At 61 minutes, it seems too long to classify as a "short", and too short to classify as a "feature". As was Fiddelity , the film is made with no budget and very basic equipment. I am, essentially a story teller in the old sense. It is the words and the way I use and express them that are intended to ignite the imagination of the audience, rather than reliance on pyro-technics and the like. I was particularly touched by this comment by one viewer: " I watched One’s Company last night and loved it. A graceful insight into alone-ness. Am I not being understood….or is it I who misunderstands? Small worries looming large. The growth...

"Deadly Sea Weed" Now Available

BOOK RELEASE: Paul Rapsey’s fourth mystery novel, Deadly Sea Weed , has just been released. Like his first three novels, the story takes place in sleepy, small-town Nova Scotia. It is as much about the delightful characters in it as it is about the mystery that slowly unfolds. Although the tale involves some serious issues, it is written in the author’s easy conversational style and in a lighthearted manner. One can feel his love of Nova Scotia and its people. The book is available from Amazon Books as both a soft cover and as an e-book. However, because of Paul’s busy schedule, (he is starring in Eugene Ionesco’s “Exit the King”) the formal book launch in Nova Scotia will be on April 8, 2025 at the Mad Hatter Book Store in Annapolis Royal from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Play is the Thing

I was cast as King Berenger in Ionesco's "Exit the King". When I first read this script through, I thought immediately that it was about the end of all things. The end of the world. My character was an everyman: the good, the bad and the ugly of humanity. And in a sense, I think, that is a correct assessment. But, even more, it is about our fear of death. And our unwillingness to accept its eventuality. Because we don’t come to terms with it, we often waste our lives. I think it was Mark Twain who wrote that “Youth is wasted on the young”. Sometimes I think life is wasted because we fail to recognize how short it will be. As my character says when informed early on in the play about his impending death, “But I know that. Of course I do. We all know it. Remind me when the time comes.” Yes. We do all know it somewhere in the recesses of our mind. But it stays there as our life unfolds. However later on, Berenger exclaims: “I fear that what is to end one day, is end...

One Actor - Another Show

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