In these last precious days of the Spring 2003 semester, many students are scrambling to complete their end-of-the-year assignments. These assignments usually consist of research papers, lab reports, or art portfolios. Eric Leslie's (senior-theater & computer science) unique honor's thesis, however, entails the Cliffs of Insanity, a six-fingered man, and Rodents of Unusual Size.

Indeed, concurrent with writing his official thesis -- a 100-page academic reflection on the production -- Leslie has endeavored to bring the 1987 film The Princess Bride from the big screen to the stage. The show will be at at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday in the Pavilion Theater, free of charge.

NRT veteran Leslie said he came up with the idea to turn The Princess Bride into a theatrical production at an NRT after-party one night, when he and his fellow castmates were reciting lines from the movie, as was a fixture at these events.

"Eventually, somebody came up with the idea: this would look great onstage," Leslie said. At first, his intention was simply to direct a staged reading of the show, which he felt would be enjoyable based simply on the strength of the characters, but his ambitions grew to want to really bring the play to life.

Thus, the final product of his rendition of The Princess Bride features period costumes, makeup and an extended swordfight meticulously choreographed to match the one from the film by fencing club vice-president Dave Palmer (junior-anthropology).

"We used the swordfight from the movie as a model, but I tried to also make it a little more true to an actual swordfight and less Hollywood," Palmer said. Despite the challenging nature of his assignment -- to teach a pair of fencing amateurs to master an extremely complicated swordfight in just a few weeks -- he is optimistic about the final result. "It should be pretty impressive," he said.

Jason Cassidy (senior-theater), who plays master swordsman Inigo Montoya, said he spent more time trying to master the fencing maneuvers than any other aspect of his performance, but that there were other challenges as well.

"Getting Inigo's accent has been tough," he said. "It's easier when he's speaking calmly, but when he gets excited he sounds like a muppet."

Leslie said that his primary intent is to pay tribute to the movie. To ensure this, he has, in addition to encouraging his actors to mimic the cast of The Princess Bride, maintained the same script, staged the action seemlessly with that of the movie, and used video projection --with his own cast dubbing the voices -- for the few segments from the film that were impossible to stage.

To achieve this similitude, Leslie's cast became aficionados of the film. In order to master her lofty British accent, Blythe Hart (freshman-theater), who stars as Buttercup, said she watched Bride "about 27 times."

To some, like Ryan Hennessy (junior-computer science), this mimicking came more naturally.

"I've been impersonating the Impressive Clergyman for as far back as I can remember," Hennessy said.

"I tried out for this part specifically; I love talking with that speech impediment."

Brendan Irving (junior-advertising) found some inspiration outside of the source for his portrayal of the dastardly Prince Humperdinck.

"I could see Humperdinck in modern times wearing a cardigan, playing polo, and eating caviar with his pinky sticking out," Irving said. "People won't like me, but that will make me enjoy it ten times more."

Joy, Leslie said, is what the entire production is about."We're out here because we love doing it," he said.

"Especially now with all of these serious things in our climate, it's important to have things that are fun and fanciful."