By Mary Scott

Volume 67, Issue I

This year’s Briarcliff High School Fall Drama is “Around the World in Eighty Days,” a play based on a book written by Jules Verne. The cast is once again thoroughly preparing to put on yet another great show this season!

      The story takes place originally in London in the year 1872. It follows a man named Phileas Fogg who made a bet with another man of 20,000 euros (currently valued at about $1.6 million) that he could travel around the world in eighty days. Fogg, along with his personal servant Jean Passepartout, set off to travel around the world making many stops along the way. However, a detective is soon on their trail mistaking Fogg for a bank robber. Nonetheless, Fogg and Passepartout make many interesting stops and meet many interesting people such as a woman named Aouda in Calcutta who accompanies them for the rest of the journey.

      The rest of the story shows their travels and close calls of missing and catching train and boats culminating in a return to London, but were they on time? “It’s a great show because the style in which it’s told makes it a lot more interactive for the audience and a lot more fun for us actors. Mr. Driver [the director] always tells us that when the story is told in a more interactive way, it’s easier for the audience to lose themselves in the story,” says Kaveri Gowda, who plays Aouda. “This year we’ve decided to play against the serious tones the last couple dramas have had. Our goal for this show was to have as much fun as possible and hopefully, everyone who sees it will feel some of that fun,” explains Sam Driver, who plays the character Fogg.

      The dates of this years show are Friday November 18th at 7:30 PM, Saturday November 19th at 2:30 and 7:30 PM, and Sunday November 20th at 2:30 PM. It will be presented as a black-box theatre, with the audience sitting on the stage, promising an exciting and unique show. The cast and crew have been rehearsing nonstop since the first week of school, and they hope that everyone will be able to come and see all of their hard work, and see the hilarious and captivating plot unfold.