Sex Please, We're Sixty is saucy silliness

Sex. Funny how that tiny three letter word gets confident men and women tittering and blushing. But that’s what happened at St. Albert Theatre Troupe’s new production Sex Please, We’re Sixty now playing at the Kinsmen Banquet Hall.

Aimed squarely at folks of certain age, the wacky plot hits right where it hurts – the failing libido.

But just because the plumbing is rusty, doesn’t mean the emotions are gone. Quite the contrary. They’re as fierce as ever. Just ask Bud or Charmaine or Henry.

Set at the Rose Cottage Bed and Breakfast, this saucy farce revolves around six older singles. The B and B owner is the proper Mrs. Stancliffe, a fanatic of punctuality and respectability. Her husband has been dead for 25 years and she’s terribly cranky. Could be the lack of sex.

For years, her gentlemanly neighbour Henry Mitchell, a retired chemist proposes like clockwork every day with a bouquet of flowers.

Henry is truly in love with her. But every day she’s refuses. Henry is just too predictable, too boring.

Mrs. Stancliffe’s other neighbour is the white-haired Bud the Stud. Constantly on the make, he’s always inquiring to Mrs. Stancliffe about the arrival of new “chicks.”

“Instead of growing old gracefully, he’s growing old disgracefully,” says Victoria Ambrose, one of the B and B’s guests describing Bud. A romance writer nursing a temporary block, she has more fun composing fantasy love scenes than chasing men.

The two other guests are the tall and leggy Hillary Hudson, Henry’s old confidante, and Charmaine Beauregard, a Southern belle whose libido is fully charged and then some.

Everyone’s comfortable world flips upside down when Henry invents Venusia, a fast-acting, libido-enhancing pill for women. But when the men accidentally down it, their feminine side takes over.

Joanne Poplett as Mrs. Stancliffe is the perfect, no-nonsense proprietress, a strong foil for Brett Hammerlindl’s gentler Henry, a natural in his role.

Colin McGarrigle as Bud the Stud turned Bud the Dud delivered a bright Irish charm and comedic flair as the establishment sex machine gone bust.

In turn, Rita Jensen’s hair flipping and breast thrusts helped Charmaine ooze with an over-the-top man-eating fervour that generated hoots of laughter – especially in the second act.

Anne-Marie Smyth as the stylish Victoria brings a classy touch while showing she’s an adept schemer. And Lori Chenger as Hillary adds just the right note to a challenging straight role.

This rib-tickler is definitely cheeky, but never vulgar. It’s a good play for a girl’s night out (especially if the girls are over 50).