MERELY PLAYERS
STARRING BARRY MORSE

"All the world's a stage,
and all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
and one man in his time plays many parts."

-William Shakespeare
(from As You Like It)






Coming in 2013
(see additional details below)








In his career, Barry Morse performed Merely Players live in cities throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom from 1959 to 2004. His live performances of the one-man stage show has ranged from a tight 45 or 60 minute show with no intermission, to a full two hour show with intermission performed in a theatrical setting with full professional stage lighting and sound accompaniment. Barry played over a dozen separate characters, three of them women, performed two musical numbers, and always left the audience wanting more.

His tour de force presentation examined the lives of a series of actors and others from Elizabethan times up to the present. From moving and heartfelt to comedic, Merely Players literally ran the gamut of human emotion. It also included several vignettes from the life and career of "mere player" himself, Barry Morse.

Program cover from the Canadian tour of Merely Players

Brochure from Performing Arts Lodge performance in Toronto

"A winner... Master raconteur...
Player Morse is merely masterly."
—The Toronto Sun











"Engrossing and richly rewarding... A labor of love,
put together by a consummate actor... in every way,
a remarkable performance."
—The Boston Globe






Rehearsal of Merely Players in Eugene, Oregon





BACKGROUND OF MERELY PLAYERS

Looking for a stage piece that he could perform for benefits and fundraisers, Barry in 1959 debuted Merely Players on stage for the first time in Boston, Massachusetts. He later performed the show in New York in 1965 (during the height of The Fugitive craze) and in other venues for various causes and concerns, as well as for fundraising for local and repertory theater companies in the U.S. and Canada. However, Merely Players in its current form coalesced in 1986 when Barry decided to use the piece on a nationwide tour of Canada to raise both publicity and funds for the Performing Arts Lodges of Canada, retirement centers for performers – actors, singers, dancers, and others – connected to the performing arts. In the 1990s and into the 2000s, Barry performed the show on a number of occasions to raise both funds and awareness for several Parkinson's disease treatment and research organizations, The Royal Theatrical Fund, and other causes.




Barry Morse holds the photograph
of his late wife, Sydney Sturgess



The Merely Players DVD is dedicated to the memory of stage actress Sydney Sturgess, who succumbed to Parkinson's after a 15 year fight against the disease. Sydney and Barry Morse were married for more than 60 years. Working with the National Parkinson Foundation in the United States, and the Parkinson Foundation of Canada, it is hoped this release will serve to reach thousands of viewers throughout North America.






Barry and Sydney's daughter, Melanie Morse MacQuarrie,
also makes a special on-screen appearance with her father.

"Held his listeners spellbound... a great raconteur."
-Victoria, B.C. Times

Merely Players Credits

Director
Daril Anthes

Producer
Anthony Wynn

Associate Producer
Robert E. Wood

Lighting Director
Stan Saunders

Sound Technician
Adam Mayer

Camera Operator
Denise Stone
Sonya Brown
Anthony Wynn

Switching Technician
Christine Mayer

Editor
Charisse Tooze

Floor Director
Anthony Wynn

Production Advisor
Loren Coulter

Material Written and Adapted By
Barry Morse

Still Photographs By
Melody Thamar Saunders









Assoc. Producer Robert Wood, Barry Morse,
and Producer Anthony Wynn





"Delicious... delightfully informal...
a wonderfully generous performance."
- London, Ontario Free Press





Sponsors

Hi-Tek Special Systems
America West Airlines
Dan & Camilla Sundholm
Brewed Hot Coffee
Helen Bernhard Bakery
Multnomah Community Television
Robert E. Wood



America West Airlines

and


Hi-Tek Special Systems, Inc.





COMING IN JUNE 2010



PRESENTING BARRY MORSE & MERELY PLAYERS

Book and CD Release



Edited By
Robert E. Wood and Anthony Wynn


To be released in conjuction with the compact disk recording of Rogues and Vagabonds - A Theatrical Scrapbook, the book and CD celebrate more than 50 years of theatrical performances. This volume features the complete text of Barry Morse's hit one-man stage show Merely Players and his CBC television series Presenting Barry Morse! The program includes material from Shakespeare, Edward and Joan Alleyn, Charles Dickens, Michael MacLiammoir, Anton Chekhov, Carl Bernard, and many others. Expanding on the material in Merely Players, the material from the Presenting Barry Morse CBC television series includes a number of interesting areas of theatrical history. Twelve show scripts are presented in their entirety:

"How Theatre Came To Canada"
"Rogues and Vagabonds"
"Uncle Tom’s Cabin"
"The Man Who Killed Lincoln"
"Charles Dickens – Would Be Actor"
"Women Come To The Theatre"
"Victorian Eccentrics and Tear-Jerkers"
"O Canada"
"An Agony of Critics"
"David Garrick, an Ideal Actor"
"The Actor in Old Age"
"Farewell Again"


In addition to the scripts themselves, biographical essays of the notable actors and performers featured in the pieces to help to round out this amazing collection of material and numerous photographs from various productions of Merely Players are also included.





In early 2011, Barry's television performance of Merely Players (originally broadcast in North America beginning in 2000) will be released to DVD, with a special 90-minute commentary track recorded by Barry Morse prior to his passing, along with producers Robert Wood and Anthony Wynn, and Director Daril Anthes. The disk will also include a number of extras, including footage not seen in the original broadcast.






Robert E. Wood, Barry Morse and Anthony Wynn

"An amusing and often moving vision
of the performer's world."
—MacLean's Magazine







Photos courtesy of Melody Thamar Saunders