St. Albert Dinner Theatre's The View From Here is both funny and touching.
REVIEW
The View From Here
St. Albert Dinner Theatre
Runs Nov. 16 to 18 and 23 to 25
Kinsmen Banquet Hall
47 Riel Dr.
Tickets: $50 to $55. Call 780-222-0102 or at http://www.stalberttheatre.com
Going for a walk after supper, filling our car with gas or buying groceries are all activities that require us to leave the comfort of our home. Most of us think nothing of it.
But what if stepping outdoors caused a person to break out into terrified, hand-wringing sweats? Welcome to the world Fern, the female lead in
The View From Here, St. Albert Dinner Theatre's season opener, inhabits.
Fern suffers from agoraphobia, a misunderstood and agonizing disorder, where the thought of leaving the secure walls of home can cripple people with fear and anxiety.
Oddly enough Fern (Monica Lefurgey) is quite energetic and spunky. She babysits children for a living and stays fit exercising to aerobics programs on television. When bored, she whips out a pair of binoculars and spies on neighbours.
Playwright Margaret Dulaney sets the two-hour plus show in 1980s Kentucky. It's the era when orange floral couches were the rage and microwaves became a must-have. Fern dreams of owning the appliance, but gets more than she bargained for after winning one from the local grocery store.
Visiting Fern is Maple (Raeven Dudley), her sister, who sits on the couch for a large part of Act I in a bug-eyed, stunned silence. We learn she is unable to conceive and Stan, her husband, has dreamt up a role-playing proclivity that affects the marriage.
And then there's Carla (Anne-Marie Smyth), a big-haired, fashionable neighbour with a knack for dropping by at the most inopportune times. A tabloid news junkie, she loves to spread gossip, the gorier the better.
Lastly there's Arnold Palmer (Rob Beeston), so nicknamed by the women, for the vintage golf apparel he always wears. His wife just walked out loading all the furniture in a moving truck. He's left with golf clubs and a baby swaddled in a blanket.
As neighbours lives fall apart, Fern is the anchor, a woman who keeps everyone stitched together. She is completely comfortable in her home and capably cares for everyone's needs. It's only when the 28-year-old must step outside her abode that she morphs into a basket case.
Dulaney has written a nice mix of interesting characters that move through a series of dramatic, comedic and poignant moments. Director Lori Chenger keeps the action moving at a fluid pace and asks the actors to deliver lines in a languid southern drawl that sets the mood.
Accents are difficult to maintain, but to their credit the four actors delivered their lines with charming finesse.
One of the more endearing characters, Beeston's Arnold, came across as a modern Gomer Pyle, a good-natured, naive individual who may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but is surprisingly full of folksy wisdom.
To her credit Lefurgey's Fern never sinks into maudlin self-pity. She plays her part as the foursome's backbone, so much so that at times it's difficult to believe Fern suffers from a mental issue and has not left the house in six years.
To the audience's delight Smyth uses every aspect of her being – posture, vocal intonation and facial expression – to play Carla's outrageous and juicy tidbits for laughs. And Dudley's Maple is very much the lost, little girl who is truly baffled at the circumstance she's in.
Two additional actors who pre-taped voice-over recordings are Global weather specialist Kevin O'Connell and Patti Vincent.
The themes of friendship, hope and healing are the bedrock of this play and will leave audiences with a sense of optimism, a nice antidote to our dark times.
The View From Here runs Nov. 16 to 18 and 23 to 25 at Kinsmen Banquet Hall.
