The second show of the summer season, Lunenburg by Norm Foster, has opened at The Orillia Opera House. The show runs until Aug. 10. Below is a review of the play by Andrew Wagner-Chazalon.
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You’d be hard-pressed to find a theatre in Ontario that doesn’t regularly present plays by Norm Foster, and with good reason: his writing is smart and funny, his characters engaging, and the laughs are guaranteed. His plays are perennial crowd-pleasers.
Lunenburg offers all that and a bit more. This recent offering, which premiered last year and is now being presented by the Orillia Opera House, has all the laughs of Foster’s best, served up with an extra helping of character and heart. It’s a comedy that has you still chuckling the next day, but also wondering what happens to the characters after the last scene ends. It may even prompt you to contemplate your own life goals.
As the name implies, it’s set in Lunenburg, N.S. Best friends Iris (Candy Price) and Natalie (Debra Hale) have come up from Maine a few weeks after the sudden death of Iris’s husband. He had always spent a lot of time in Lunenburg but she was astonished to learn that he owned a house there, and they have come to learn more.
They’re greeted by next-door neighbour Charlie (Jeff Miller), a Lunenburg native who helps them unravel the layers of mystery and secrecy, while also getting drawn into their lives in surprising ways.
Director Jesse Collins is no stranger to Foster’s work, having worked closely with the playwright on several premieres. That familiarity bears fruit in this production: the pacing is absolutely impeccable, a feat that results from having a director who is completely simpatico with his script.
It helps that he’s got a tremendous cast to work with. Miller brings a marvellous physicality to the role, adopting a gentle sway and loose-armed stance that perfectly captures the spirit of a man who has chosen to ignore any sadness in his life and focus instead on the quiet joys of living exactly where he chooses to live.
Hale is tremendous as Natalie, torn between her desire to be a good friend and her rapidly growing interest in this handsome neighbour. She and Miller are a delight to watch as they crackle on stage.
Price brings great life to her character’s story arc, as she moves from grieving-yet-puzzled widow to someone whose life has been transformed. Her performance is ever so slightly understated, in perfect keeping with her character as a strong woman and a Maine native who isn’t easily rocked, despite revelations that should have brought her to her knees.
The note-perfect set design by Paul Baxter helps give this play its tremendous rootedness. Anyone who has spent time in Nova Scotia will recognize the architectural details of the back-porch setting: from the ground-level lattice to the white corner boards and yellow siding, to the jam jar porch lights, there’s no mistaking where we are.
And setting is an important detail to get right. Part of the magic of this play is that it manages to be about a specific place and the way it can shape people, without requiring any knowledge of that place on the part of the audiences.
When they first arrive and catch a glimpse of Lunenburg Harbour, Natalie advises Iris to “drink in that view.” She drinks deep, and is transformed by the draught. And watching her, we too are encouraged to seek our own restorative, our own personal Lunenburg.
Lunenburg runs until Aug. 10. Find out more here.
