Victorian presents ‘Camille’

Staff report

Youngstown

Carol Weakland stars in “Camille,” which opens Friday at The Victorian Players.

Weakland is known for her performance as Emily Dickinson in “The Belle of Amherst,” which she has toured professionally for many years.

She is also the writer/director of “The Arthurian Trilogy,” a series of plays based on the tales of King Arthur in which she plays Morgen of Avalon. The show was last seen at the Victorian Players during the summer of 2010.

“Camille,” based on the Alexandre Dumas novel “The Lady of the Camellias,” is the tale of a Parisian courtesan.

The story actually was inspired by the author’s mistress and also became the inspiration for Verdi’s “La Traviata” and Baz Lurhman’s “Moulin Route.”

The story follows Marguerite Gautier, nicknamed Camille because of her love of camellias.

She is what would be referred today as a high-class call girl and has the misfortune to fall in love with Armand Duval, played by Ryan Clausen. Duval is a handsome young man who returns her love but is not rich.

For his sake, she is prepared to give up her profession and sell off her jewels, carriages and finery.

Armand’s father, however, played by Sheridan Sullivan, has other ideas and persuades Camille that her past cannot be erased and that it will destroy both her and Armand.

Besides Weakland, Clausen and Sullivan, the cast includes Tom O’Donnell, Charles Creager, Sam Luptak Jr., Jim Canacci, Gary Deckant, John Thornton, Bill Nibert, Brittiani Ketcham, Caty Sacui, Jenna Cintavey, Kim Kaufman and Audrey Allen, with Ed O’Malley, Nikita Jones, DeAnna D’Egidio and Camille Smith as guests and extras.