Adulteress tugs at the imagination

Upon first reading the media release for The Adulteress, I wondered if it would be full of hot and heavy breathing. Not so.

As you enter the stylized world of playwright Stewart Lemoine, this brand new fable is more a gentle reveal about shedding the past and embracing the future.

Also directed by Lemoine, this 90-minute, one-act production mounted by Teatro La Quindicina runs at the Varscona Theatre until May 12.

In a nutshell, “Second chances are what today is all about,” says the brash Ethel, a major catalyst for change in the lives of three people encumbered by secrets.

Set in the 1960s, a mystery woman, Ethel (Briana Buckmaster), arrives at Fresh Hope Springs sporting a sophisticated chignon, turquoise blue suit and dark glasses. She’s answering an advertisement to rent a room at Roy’s (Eric Wigston) house, a grocery store shelf-stocker who inherited a house from his grandmother.

Authoritative and pushy to the max, Ethel is determined to grab the room at all costs and edges out another potential applicant, the gentler, more philosophical Antonia (Shannon Blanchet).

From the get-go, the bland Roy and slightly eccentric Ethel live in restrained agitation. Buckmaster plays her larger than life character with a vivid charm. Whipping out a stash of whisky and cranking up the jazz radio station, she erupts into a full confession of transgressions.

But Ethel’s gusto for life makes Roy nervous. He lives in a dull, muted world of routine where he has a standing supper order at the local chop house and social interaction is limited to a few polite words. A clothing update for a cocktail party extends to buying a beige cardigan.

It is Antonia, a spring-like confection of ’60s femininity, who floats into his imagination and morphs into a dream girl he cannot escape. Blanchet, a Teatro veteran, plays the cheerful Antonia with a subdued pizzazz that makes Roy and Antonia’s natural chemistry glow.

The hardest role to play is Wigston’s quiet character as the dreamer. However, Wigston, a Teatro newcomer, treads a subtle balance without tripping into boredom. And at the end when he finally reveals his fantasy, you can’t help but silently cheer for him.

Special kudos to Jeff Haslam’s stylish, retro set that was so evocative of the ’60s it felt as if we’d been thrust into a time warp. In particular the pop-up perspective backdrops, similar to pop-up books, served beautifully as background for the grocery store and diner.

And Leona Brausen, a Teatro stalwart, once again fitted the actors with costumes that were such a seamless character fit. Even before the actors opened their mouths, their personalities came to life.

Although The Adulteress encourages leaping into the future with all its wondrous discoveries, it ends placidly with a note of uncertainty. But that’s what a Lemoine play does. It tugs at your imagination.