GENTLEMEN NEVER TELL
A Mrs. Hawking diversion
by Phoebe Roberts and Bernie Gabin

“A comedic spinoff of the ongoing Hawking story, we follow Mrs. Hawking’s other nephew Justin as he trots the globe having romantic adventures in the spirit of P.G. Wodehouse. While on a business trip to Venice during Masquerade, dashing bisexual rake Justin Hawking is there to make deals and make love, not necessarily in that order. But behind the masks of the ball is more intrigue than he bargained for, and Justin must interrupt his dalliances long enough to stick up for those without his privilege to float through life.”

Presented by the Watch City Steampunk Festival 2021
Saturday, May 8th at 11:30AM

Produced through a novel system of socially distanced filming
developed by Breaking Light Productions

CAST

MR. JUSTIN HAWKING, a liberated gentleman – Eric Cheung
MR. NATHANIEL HAWKING, Justin’s younger brother – Christian Krenek
MR. PETER MORGAN, Justin’s valet – Pieter Wallace
MISS ROSALINE PEMBROKE, a fellow bon vivant traveler – Naomi Ibatsitas
The Honorable MR. CASSIUS EVANS, a socialite and old school friend – Andy LeBlanc
MISS CORA LITTLE, maid companion to Annabel – Elizabeth Ross
THEO PRYCE, Lord Cornin, the groom-to-be and old school friend – Matthew Kamm
The Honorable MISS ANNABEL BROADWATER, the bride-to-be – Arielle Kaplan
MRS. EMMELINE BROADWATER, Annabel’s guardian aunt and mistress of the house – Sara Dion
MR. MARTIN QUINCY, Mrs. Broadwater’s butler – Andrew Prentice

CREW

Director, Production Designer – Phoebe Roberts
Editor, Technical Director – Bernie Gabin
Sound Designer – Neil Marsh
Costume Designer – Jennifer Benfield
Mask Designer – Circe Rowan
Stage Manager – Cari Keebaugh
Poster Designer – S.K. Artistry

About Gentlemen Never Tell

You’ll notice that our play opens with one fond brother asking another, “I’ve heard you’ve had a hard year. Can I tell you a funny story to cheer you up?”

This is, we assure you, no accident. 

If you’ve been following the Hawking saga so far, you know we’re up to a fairly dark point in the tale. We’ve always been determined to let the story hit whatever peaks and valleys made it the most compelling, but when it came time to write the new show for this year… we found we wanted to do as Justin did. Tell you a funny story, in hope of making you smile a bit. 

So we decided to do our very first spinoff, to take the characters and world of Mrs. Hawking and explore a different corner of it– to see if it could stand up to a very different kind of story, with a very different tone. GENTLEMEN NEVER TELL takes its inspiration from classic romances and comedies of manners, in the vein of Shakespeare, Noel Coward, and particularly P.G. Wodehouse. It stars Justin Hawking, the elder brother of one of our three leads Nathaniel, who you may remember all the way back from his debut in part III: BASE INSTRUMENTS. The character was charming and funny, and we loved him so much we’ve been waiting for a chance to bring him back. 

It also gave us a chance to do what we at Team Hawking love to do, approach our classic genres with love, but also with some fresh perspective. Comedies of manners have always been about satirizing the social order, but we wanted to take that one step further. You’ll notice, despite their posh breeding and their fancy ways, everybody in this story is chafing against the restrictions and expectations of society. We wanted to make their wheeling and bucking humorous, but we also wanted to use it layer some meaning into the comedy.

Because even when people are in tough spots, they figure it out. Just as Team Hawking did, putting together a socially distanced show in the middle of a pandemic. Just as we all do. 

Special Thanks

Melissa Honig
Chris Cebelenski
Marybeth LaRivee
Jason Schneiderman
Jason Tilton

Join Us Again

Mrs. Hawking hunts for Jack the Ripper in…

FALLEN WOMEN
Saturday, May 8th at 2PM

Follow the story of Mrs. Hawking  

On the web: www.mrshawking.com
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/ladyschampionoflondon
On Instagram: @mrshawkingweb
On TV Tropes: Mrs Hawking (Theatre) 

This has been a Breaking Light Production