There is something autobiographical about “Mr. Nanny.” But there aren’t any parallels between the title figure and Jimmy Doyle, the ex-Second City actor who’s the star of the one-man show. Instead, it all goes back to Vicki Quade, the show’s writer and creator.
“Mr. Nanny” is the new work by Quade (who co-created the immensely successful “Late Night Catechism” with Maripat Donovan at Live Bait in 1993), and it opens Sept. 12 at Bailiwick Arts Center for an extended run.
“Actually,” Quade says, “I didn’t have Jimmy in mind for
the show at all at first.”
Which is amazing, because when Doyle’s up there talking about his travails taking care of three kids, you believe every syllable he says.
“The other day (Core) comes running into the room,” says Doyle while in the character of Carl King, “Mr. Nanny” himself, “and when I asked her what was wrong, she said, `I don’t want to be an adult. You never have any fun when you’re grown up. You can never play.’ . . . Only 3 and she already has a Peter Pan Complex.”
Doyle’s delivery — edgy yet poignant — is so integral to the character of Carl King, a gay man who’s been a domestic with the same family for seven years, that it’s hard to imagine someone else in his place.
As “Mr. Nanny” opens, Lisa — Carl’s employer — is considering an out-of-town job offer, which means that Carl may be left behind. And that forces him to consider that maybe his job is more than just a job to him.
“It was originally based on another friend of mine,” says Quade. “I told him if he came to see `Late Night Catechism’ with me in New York, I’d drive him to Newport to see his family. So while I was in New York, running around with stuff for `Late Night Catechism,’ he took care of my kids — I have three kids. And later we talked about Newport, because it has a history as a community of domestics.”
The idea for “Mr. Nanny” was born right there and then, but Quade didn’t do a thing with it for months. Finally, she whipped up a 40-page draft and showed it around. But when she went back to her friend — one of our city’s busiest actors — he confessed that he was simply too tired to even consider taking on a project with such a long run.
One of the persons who saw the draft was Second City’s Joyce Sloane.
“She called me up — she didn’t know Vicki and I knew each other — and told me she’d just read a script that was perfect for me,” says Doyle with a laugh. He and Quade had met when he played the priest in “Late Night Catechism.”
“Yeah, then I had to rewrite the whole thing,” says Quade.
And some of the revision was based on real-life experiences that involved Doyle after all.
“It was important for us to just hang out, to get the cadence of his voice,” says Quade.
“We took three trips together, Vicki and me and her three kids,” says Doyle, a tall, handsome fellow with a quick smile. “All this time, I thought she loved my company. Now I realize it was all research, she was watching me to rewrite the thing.”
In “Mr. Nanny,” Carl King is forced to consider the meaning of family. In the play, he explores his feelings in a monologue directed at a video camera he’s set up for a quasi-job interview. For Doyle, it’s an opportunity to shine that’s rare for an actor. But, because he and Quade are friends, it was really hard for him to make the play his own.
“There came a moment in the last two weeks when I just had to stop checking with Vicki about this or that,” he says. “Prior to this, the only solo work I’ve ever done is my own stuff. And other than filmwork” — Doyle has filmed two independents this summer alone — “it’s been a long time since I’ve worked with somebody else’s script.”
“I understand that,” says Quade, who has stayed away from most of the rehearsal process. “I’m willing to birth the baby and let it go. I had to do that with `Late Night Catechism’; I gave that up a long time ago.” (Don’t worry: She and Donovan are great pals and she has a slice of every production pie.)
The best part for Doyle? It wasn’t the kids. “Man, I’m finally doing a show my whole family can see!”
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the facts
“Mr. Nanny,” by Vicki Quade and featuring Jimmy Doyle. 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays, Sept. 12 through Nov. 9, Bailiwick Arts Center, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. 773-883-1090. Bailiwick is wheelchair accessible.
