It's now or never.
This was director Carla Fuhre's thought process when she decided it was time to turn the cult classic, The Princess Bride, into a theatrical production that will take the stage at the Brackendale Art Gallery (BAG) in just over a month.
Fuhre has been involved in many productions over the years - she joined Between Shifts Theatre more than 13 years ago but despite a myriad of plays and roles, she hadn't satisfied her desire to see one of her all-time favourite stories on stage.
"It's never been done on stage and I just thought, 'It's now or never, let's do it!'" Fuhre said.
"The timing was right after the Darth and Luke production was done. I wanted to make sure I had the right cast, so I approached everyone, they were on board and now it's all coming together."
Scripts were handed out in December and rehearsals started in January, but it was just recently that Fuhre said the production hit a turning point for the better.
"In the beginning, it crossed my mind a few times - 'What am I thinking?' - but now I'm so excited," she said. "We hit a turning point in rehearsal on Monday [Jan. 24] and it was frickin' fantastic!"
Fuhre is dedicated to mimicking the movie as closely as possible, despite the lack of massive, expensive sets and no do-overs.
"It's really challenging because it wasn't written for stage and it's a bit complex," she said. "The actors actually have to act because there's no re-takes."
Another challenge, dealt with on Sunday (Jan. 30), was the amount of sword fighting scenes and the actors' lack of sword fighting experience.
"The sword fighting needed to look good because it's such an essential component of the production," said Fuhre, "And of course we need make sure the actors are safe."
David McCormick, the stage combat instructor for Vancouver-based Academy Duello, came for an eight-hour session with seven Princess Bride actors to teach them swordplay techniques, footwork and to choreograph all the sword-fighting scenes.
He also choreographed the scene when Westley strangles Fezzik the giant.
McCormick said after eight hours the actors did well, but the more fight combat training people have, the better.
"Fight choreography is generally done with people who have some experience," said McCormick. "It's not easy to take people who have never picked up a sword before and take them from zero to performance ready in a few hours."
Nonetheless, the fights are choreographed and the combat instructor said he has faith that after rehearsing the fight scenes over and over, the end product will be more than "audience ready."
It's the first time he's taught and choreographed scenes from The Princess Bride and he said it's an ambitious project because of the amount of fighting.
"It's a fight director's dream show," he said. "Because there are so many fights that have so much personality in them."
McCormick said theatre obviously limits fight scenes to some extent, but "we'll do what we can to make the scenes realistic without stunt people."
"It's entirely possible and I think we've done it here - we've definitely captured the spirit of the show."
Fuhre seems to think so.
"Nothing has been left out," she said. "We've got the Fire Swamp, the Cliffs of Insanity, the screeching eels and we're even going to have musical interludes with a guitarist."
Thanks to the intimate setting of the BAG, Fuhre said the audience will be integrated into the production as the actors meander through the crowd on several occasions.
The production will run March 10, 11 and 12 and 17, 18 and 19.
