STAGE offers self help

Rehearsing in an unheated garage is a tough gig.

But the St. Albert Theatre Arts Guild of Entertainers (STAGE), now tweaking its upcoming comedy Self Help, has more on its mind than watching puffs of breath.

“We brought heaters to rehearsals and tripped the breakers so many times, some days we had to choose ‘Do we want light or heat?' But I must say, we have a very determined group,” says Mark McGarrigle who is partnering with Danielle Pearce as co-director.

It is STAGE's abundant can-do spirit that is propelling this fledgling troupe into one of the city's most talked about artistic groups. This Friday, Norm Foster's Self Help premieres at the Royal Canadian Legion's Cornerstone Hall, running for three consecutive weekends as a dinner theatre production.

McGarrigle, an Irish transplant who immigrated to St. Albert in 1981, is widely known in western Canada for his pub-style music. And Pearce, who studied performing arts and acted in British TV and theatre, came to St. Albert three years ago after her husband was transferred from the United Kingdom.

“This kind of belly-laugh comedy really suits itself to dinner theatre. Since we've announced it, people have been coming up to me asking why we haven't done it before,” McGarrigle says.

Foster is one of Canada's most produced playwrights with a knack for penning comedies with populist characters that end up in improbable situations. In Self Help, Cindy and Hal Savage are a couple of struggling actors trying to make ends meet. While backstage, Cindy reads a self-help book and notices the tanned writer on the cover is standing in front of a mansion wearing bling.

Fast forward seven years, and the couple has invented their own self-help technique and made a fortune. But their wealth and image is tarnished when their gardener is discovered dead and naked in the couple's luxurious house. The police quickly arrive and a sneaky investigative reporter anxious to expose the couple's fraudulent empire unexpectedly shows up.

“The way Norm Foster writes is subtle but he is obviously very funny and it's very easy to get engrossed,” Pearce says. “Coming from the U.K. where sarcasm is the main form of humour, I find the play quite appealing.”

Foster has kept the number of characters down to a bare six, a technique that allows him to more fully develop their personalities. “Comedy comes out of true situations, but it's the character reactions that create an extra depth of humour,” McGarrigle says.

Although tickets for the first weekend are about 75 per cent sold, Pearce is keeping her fingers crossed St. Albert will embrace this new project. “It's a whole night out in one. You can have dinner and drinks, see a show and smile on the way home.”

The roast beef dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. The show starts at 8 p.m.