By Aisling Murphy | Intermission Magazine

Friday, August 30, 2024

Lighthouse Festival Theatre, located in Port Dover and Port Colborne, has announced its jam-packed 2025 summer season.

Curated by incoming artistic director Jane Spence, the season will feature a blend of genres, including two plays by fan favourite playwright Norm Foster.

“I am absolutely thrilled to join Lighthouse Festival as the new artistic director,” said Spence in a press release. “This theatre has a rich history of bringing exceptional performances to our communities, and I can’t wait to be a part of that tradition. Our 2025 season is focused on making people laugh, and I believe that laughter is a universal language that brings us together, helps us find joy, and creates unforgettable memories.”

The season will open with The New Canadian Curling Club by Mark Crawford, a heartwarming, humorous story about an unlikely group of characters coming together to learn the art of curling.

Next up is The Hound of the Baskervilles by Steven Canny and John Nicholson. The play is billed as a comedic adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic mysteries, adding a farcical twist to the world of Sherlock Holmes.

Third in the season is Hidden Treasures by Norm Foster. This show is unique for its two-play structure — each act is its own one-act play, and both halves are performed by the same cast.

After Hidden Treasures is Pinkerton Comes to Prospect, a world premiere by playwright Jamie Williams. This western-themed comedy elevates the genre’s tropes to a new level, and is sure to provoke laughs.

Rounding out the season is another Foster classic, Here on the Flight Path, about the quirky inhabitants of a Toronto apartment building.

Single tickets will be on sale starting November 18, with subscription renewals beginning in early September. For more information about the 2025 season, visit the Lighthouse Festival Theatre website

Aisling Murphy is Intermission’s senior editor and an award-winning arts journalist with bylines including the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CBC Arts, CTV News Toronto, and Maclean’s. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.

By Janine Marley | Intermission Magazine

Thursday, August 29, 2024

Ever get the feeling you’ve lost your moxie? 

Well, retirees Christina and Robert were feeling that way when they met each other at a wedding a few weeks ago. During the reception, their intoxicated selves concocted an idea to help them get over their respective anxieties. Renting a lakefront cabin seemed like a great idea at the time — but now that they’re sober, they have to go through with it. 

Norm Foster has written a hilarious, truthful story about getting your groove back — or realizing you never lost it at all —  with his new play Lakefront. In its world premiere directed by Jeffrey Wetsch at Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Lakefront is not only a love letter to Canada, but also a love letter to love. 

The premise of the play is simple: Christina (Melodee Finlay) and Robert (Ralph Small) have booked a cabin together at the erroneously named Lakefront Cabins to see if spending a night or two together will help them find their mojo again. Upon arrival, they meet Duane (Derek Ritschel, also the artistic director of Lighthouse Festival Theatre), who’s watching over the cabins for the week while his parents are on vacation. Duane has a habit of popping in at precisely the wrong time, punctuating Robert and Christina’s most intimate moments with a clunky greeting or non-sequitur. But as Robert and Christina open up and start trusting each other, we see the beginning of an interpersonal bond that can survive these grating interruptions.

Foster’s writing is full of wit and humour, as audiences across Canada have come to know and love. With that in mind, Lakefront has a decidedly small-town Ontario flair to it. Jokes about Winnipeg in the winter, curling, and the unyielding boredom of children’s hockey make Lakefront feel like home. From Duane’s habit of barging into the cabin unannounced to the inevitable rush of patrons at the local restaurant on “fruit cup Friday,” Lakefront embraces all the clichés of rural life in the best way possible. It’s fitting that the first run of Lakefront is taking place in Port Dover and Port Colborne, both beautiful small communities that resemble the one in the text. (Except, of course, these ports actually have stunning lakefront views.)

Eric Bunnell’s set design fully embodies the rustic charm of Foster’s script. The warmth of the wooden cabin and stone hearth emanates against the bare, snow-covered trees surrounding the cottage. The trees themselves are unique, too, at times looking more like sign posts than tree branches, and yet their wooden construction aesthetically complements the rest of the set. Kevin Fraser’s lighting, as well, bathes the set in lovely, while the plaid couch and chair add a tasteful amount of Canadiana to the set, matched by the Buffalo checks of Duane’s costumes (designed by Alex Amini). 

Finlay and Small have impeccable chemistry as Christina and Robert. Lakefront starts out steeped in first date awkwardness, complete with delicious tension that ebbs and flows throughout the first act of the play. At the matinee I attended, Small’s delivery of Robert’s more anxious moments caused belly laughs to echo through the theatre; for the first hour or so, Robert is clearly trying so hard to impress Christina, yet none of his tactics seem to work. But as Robert and Christina open up to one another, Finlay gets to relish some of Foster’s funnier one-liners and quips, which when I attended made Small burst out into real laughter several times, adding some real-life zip to Foster’s prescribed dialogue. 

However, it’s Ritschel’s comedic timing that steals the show. Duane has a sweet, slightly oblivious demeanour to his intrusions that makes him immediately loveable — with just a dash of chaos and irritation. 

As a theatre critic based in Toronto and not often exposed to Foster’s work, I found it inspiring to get to spend an afternoon with Canada’s most-programmed playwright — his plays are a pointed reminder that getting older doesn’t have to mean that you’re getting boring or undesirable. There are so many assumptions and fears around aging which have been perpetuated throughout our society, and time and again, Foster’s work proves just how incorrect those preconceptions are. Bring your friend, lover, or maybe even a total stranger, grab your silk pajamas, and settle in for a night of laughs at Lakefront. 

Lakefront runs in Port Dover until September 7 and in Port Colborne from September 11-22. Tickets are available here.

Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.

Janine Marley is an independent theatre reviewer born in Kingsville, Ontario and has been a Torontonian since November 2020. She holds Honours BA and MA Degrees from the University of Windsor in English Language and Literature with her studies primarily focused on theatre. She began acting at a young age and continued acting in productions until 2018. She started her blog, A View from the Box, as a personal project to share her passion for theatre.

By Kelly Monaghan | Ontario Stage

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

With Lakefront, now enjoying it’s world premiere at Port Dover’s Lighthouse Festival Theatre, the prolific Norm Foster is proving that oldsters can be just as romantic – and funny – as the younger couples he has been writing about for decades.

“Write what you know” is timeless advice for writers, so it’s perhaps no surprise that as he himself ages Foster is creating more main characters who are in or approaching their “golden years.” His recent Whit’s End had great fun with a widower’s clumsy attempt to introduce his new love interest to his adult children.

Lakefront is even better and the central characters even older.

As the play opens, an older couple, Christina (Melodee Finlay) and Robert (Ralph Small), are being shown into their room at a modest country resort, the Lakefront of the title, by Duane (Derek Ritschel), the goofy son of the resort’s owners who are on holiday.

Christina and Robert are both single; she divorced, he dumped by a faithless wife. They met at a wedding at which the happy couples being united in holy matrimony had been married and divorced several times. Foster seems to be alerting us that relationships can be an iffy proposition.

During a boozy conversation at the reception, they came round to pondering the thorny question of whether folks at their age (she 68 and he 70) could still be attractive to the opposite sex. They decided to find out.

And so here they are at Lakefront resort in February. Now sober, they are bit apprehensive as to whether or not this was such a great idea.

For two hours Foster has a great deal of fun helping them find out.

Robert is especially concerned about … you know … the “man thing.” Christina says she doesn’t really care about sex.

But it isn’t too long before the too-thin walls of their Lakefront cottage are shaking with Christina’s moans and shrieks as Robert demonstrates his prowess at giving her what every women secretly wants – a really great foot massage.

And so it goes as Lakefront meanders around the will-they-won’t-they question, which in true Foster fashion is neatly and quite satisfactorily answered by play’s end.

Their courtship, if that’s what we can call it, is regularly interrupted by visits from Duane, one of Foster’s most inspired and wildly comic creations. Duane develops a definite attraction to Christina that would be kinda icky if it wasn’t so innocently inane.

Director Jeffrey Wetsch has orchestrated all of this admirably and drawn very funny and, yes, touching performances from his two leads. Finlay makes Christina an alluring mixture of hesitancy and self-assurance. The way she needles Robert about what she sees as his silly concerns about “the man thing” is delightful.

For his part, Small brings a quiet decency to his portrayal of Robert as he frets over his kissing technique. Refreshingly, no “intimacy coach” is credited.

Ritschel, whose day job is being artistic director of the Lighthouse Theatre, damn near steals the show as Duane. He’s hysterical.

Set designer Eric Bunnell has provided what struck me as a photographic reproduction of a similar lakefront cabin on Manitoulin Island where I once stayed. It’s perfect. Costume designer Alex Amini, who has been doing such sterling work at the Foster Festival this year, has created wonderfully witty costumes. Where on earth did she find Robert’s silk pajamas?

Lakefront is another winner from the fertile pen of Norm Foster and well worth the schlep to the shores of Lake Erie. If you can’t make it I have no doubt that Lakefront, like most of Foster’s work, will have an extensive afterlife.

Foster is often called “Canada’s Neil Simon.” The salient difference is that Simon’s natural milieu was Broadway. Why, pray tell, hasn’t Foster been taken up by the giants of Canadian theatre?

Lakefront continues at the Lighthouse Festival Theatre in Port Dover through September 7, 2024. It then transfers to Lighthouse’s Roselawn Theatre in Port Colborne, ON, from September 11 to 22, 2024. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Lighthouse Festival Theatre website.

By Robyn Beazley | Robyn’s Review

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Last Thursday I went to the Opening Night performance of The Sweet Delilah Swim Club, directed by Lighthouse Festival’s new Artistic Director Jane Spence and like everyone else in the audience- thoroughly enjoyed it!

This show, about five friends whose connection dates back to their days as college swim team champions, opens with a set that instantly makes you feel like you’re at a quaint little cottage on the beach.

While it takes place on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and the women’s southern accents leave no doubt on where it is set, the story is one that will resonate with anyone anywhere who has had a friendship that spans across different parts of their lifetime.

Written by Jones Hope Wooten (Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten), who are known for being creators of strong female roles and packing their scripts with funny situations and witty repartee, this show follows Sheree, Lexie, Dinah, Jeri, and Vernadette over the course of a few decades during their annual girls trip each August to The Sweet Delilah cottage. The storyline skips a few years here and there but the audience is brought up to speed every time the five women reunite again and share laughter, gossip, advice, and empathy.

The actors nail their respective characters and every witty one-liner or exchange between them, having to pause often for the laughter to die down before they hit us with the next one. Each character’s personalities were highlighted from the hairstyles they wore right down to the outfits they appeared in for each scene.

While each of these women is strikingly different, they accept each other just as they are (albeit not without a few zingers thrown around), and they support each other as they go through the usual life experiences with husbands, children, careers, health, big life changes and a plethora of other relatable milestones. And despite their differences, they all have one thing in common – their genuine love for each other that withstands the test of time and some trials and tribulations over those years.

While this is a comedy it also has its heart touching moments as the women support one another through thick and thin, but the actors never leave room for the audience to feel down for longer than a beat, as they quickly remind us all that even during the worst of times, our friends are the ones we can always lean on.

The signature drink for this show was the Lexie’s Blueberry Sangria – and the reasoning for the name becomes clear in the first couple minutes of the show. As for the choice of sangria, it is the perfect representation of the medley of characters that combine to make up the Sweet Delilah Swim Team, resulting in a drink that is sweet, but with a sassy little kick to it. Just like the women we get to know throughout the show.

The Opening Night celebrations were topped off with a delicious finger foods buffet prepared by Debbie Moffatt Catering and music by Jesse Murphy and Ian Brammall as patrons toasted another great show with champagne and post-show chatter.

I 10/10 recommend that you go see this show, even better if it’s with one of your own best friends!

This show is running in Port Dover until August 10th and then it moves to Port Colborne from the 14th to the 25th.

Get your tickets here: https://lighthousetheatre.com/event/sweet-delilah-swim-club/

By Mae Smith | Intermission Magazine

Wednesday, July 10, 2024

When I walked the main street of Port Dover ahead of the opening of Mary Wedding’s, happy beachgoers dawdling around me, there was no way I could have predicted that I would be desperately stifling tears in a public washroom just mere hours later.

Indeed, the Lighthouse Festival’s production of Stephen Massicotte’s historical romance is an emotional heavy hitter, swinging between endearing meet-cutes and gut-wrenching loss and leaving a chorus of sniffles and whimpers bouncing off of the more than 100-year-old walls.

Set between 1914 and 1920 in the dream of the titular Mary (played by Evelyn Wiebe) before her titular wedding, we follow her subconscious through dreams of her and her love, the “dirty farm boy” Charlie (played by Daniel Reale). We meet Mary and Charlie in a barn where she soothes his fear of an ongoing thunderstorm with poetry (reciting Alfred Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade”), weaving then through their secret courting under the eye of Mary’s domineering but never-seen mother, to Charlie’s service as a Canadian trooper in the First World War. However, as dreams do, the plot veers into non-linearity as Mary’s fears and her knowledge of the future bleed into the fabric of her memories.

Despite jumping quickly between the years, Reale and Wiebe aptly execute the switches from hopeful, innocent kids in love to the worn, aged demeanor of veterans and those who grieve them. The performances complement the text itself, which juxtaposes Massicotte’s prose against Tennyson’s poems. Where Tennyson’s words present romanticized versions of war and heartache (Mary raves about “The Lady of Shalott”), Massicotte poetically dismantles the naive visions of life the characters get from Tennyson. Charlie never looks more boyish than when he excitedly tells Mary his plans to enlist and fight like in The Charge of the Light Brigade to then — not more than 10 minutes later (or earlier?) — be holding the dying body of his sergeant (also played by Wiebe, keeping her involved in war scenes and lending a visual reference for the way Charlie sees Mary in everything, everywhere which is a favoured expression in the text for love and grief). 

Derek Ritschel’s direction allows for a lot of pauses and breathing room that emphasizes the slow, dreamy quality of key emotional moments. At some points, however, I found the energy jumped too fast. When I attended, other audience members and I startled in our seats more than once. Within the first few minutes of Mary’s appearance on stage, she yells at Charlie in a manner akin to the precog Agatha screaming at Tom Cruise to run in Minority Report. Such unsettling moments can have their purpose, but it wasn’t always clear to me what that purpose was. I would have said the show had reached a climax too soon if not for Wiebe’s absolutely heartbreaking performance in her final memories with Charlie, sparking the aforementioned weeping.

Alex Amini’s modest costume design helps the performances remain free from distractions; frequent changes might have imposed on actors needing to travel through time and space. Mary wears a plain white nightgown even when standing in for Charlie’s sergeant, while Charlie wears high-waisted trousers with suspenders over a white shirt. The only change in costume happens when Charlie repeatedly swaps between jacket or and no-jacket to indicate before the war and during. 

A quick Google Image search will tell you this is not a particularly unique design for the play, but there are still small details that emphasize youth when necessary (like Mary’s high neckline and long sleeves) and possess a utilitarian quality for time-jumping (like Charlie’s leg wraps) which differentiate Amini’s take on the characters’ looks.

William Chesney’s set design, a collection of tilted platforms and wooden support beams encapsulating Mary’s home and the inside of an old barn, has a similar multipurpose nature that provides a nice physical playground for action. Shorter wooden supports downstage function as the railing of an ocean liner, as horses’ tethers, and even as horses for the actors to mount and ride. The design does seem to miss one opportunity in embracing a blended, surreal look that embodies both home and overseas. The set, though minimal, remains firmly rooted in the Canadian homestead opting more to be ignored during war scenes.

While I’ve called Mary’s Wedding a romance, as I find Mary and Charlie’s connection to be the best part and what makes the ending so powerful (along with Wiebe’s performance), Massicotte’s use of real Canadian military history grounds the story and elevates the genre. Charlie’s sergeant is based on a real Canadian soldier, Gordon Flowerdew, who led the real-life charge we see portrayed and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. The Lighthouse Festival has included a write-up on Flowerdew in the lobby and the program, helping the audience picture the characters in the real world.

Mary and Charlie may be fictional characters and their story dramatically enhanced but there is no doubt countless others have experienced and are experiencing similar tragedies. Just as Mary soothes Charlie with a meditative use of poetry, Mary’s Wedding ends on a moving mantra for the grief-stricken. Mary and Charlie tell us it’s okay to remember those you loved in the past and it’s okay to remember them a little less as you make more memories in the present. If you, like me, enjoy touching tales of love and loss, then you’ll be happy you saw Mary’s Wedding, even if you leave in tears.

You can learn more about Mary’s Wedding here.

Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.

Mae Smith is a former associate editor for Intermission Magazine. Outside of theatre, she is a crafter and a Pisces.

By Janine Marley | Intermission Magazine

Thursday, May 27, 2024

A university dean, a corrections officer, and a disgraced athlete walk into a retirement home…except there isn’t really a punchline. 

Instead, Norm Foster’s Doris and Ivy in the Home, directed by Jane Spence, is an exploration of friendship, love, and intimacy amidst the inevitable process of aging. Featuring Foster’s signature wit and delivering laugh after laugh, Doris and Ivy in the Home is an uproarious way to kick off Lighthouse Festival’s 45th season. 

Doris and Ivy in the Home takes three unlikely companions on a journey through illness, relationships, perhaps even some romance, and the occasional snoop on another senior couple who like to, uh, get busy in the garden. Doris is a former corrections officer with a tough exterior, Ivy is a former skier who fled to Canada after a career-ending run, and Arthur used to be a dean, but he prefers to think of himself as a teacher. Arthur only has eyes for Ivy, while Ivy is afraid to fall in love again after three failed marriages. After much meddling and the occasional heart-to-heart, the three end up totally inseparable as they settle into their new lives. 

Foster’s script proves why he’s such a mainstay of Canadian comedy; Doris and Ivy at the Home is one well-placed joke after another, with plenty of callbacks to previous quips as well. A striking element of the writing is that Arthur likes to make up little poems based on his friends’ conversations, essentially little limericks. They’re brilliant and witty, and they punctuate the text perfectly. This flourish takes the creativity of the work to a whole new level while also giving Arthur a unique, delightful quirk.

There’s also a very delicate balance between the light and dark elements of Foster’s play. The world delves into real issues while keeping the overall essence of the play lively and fun. Getting older is a prevalent source of anxiety for most people, and yet Foster doesn’t shy away from talking about the realities of getting cancer or arthritis, or any other number of ailments. However, this play also reinforces how those things don’t have to define us as we get older. Each of the three characters finds something, or someone, new to live for over the course of the play. Whether that’s love, or a grandchild, or finding your independence after a long, loveless marriage, they all find something new about themselves. The ability to change our lives over and over again, no matter what age we are, is part of the beauty of being human, and Doris and Ivy in the Home directly speaks to that humanity.

The cast of Doris and Ivy in the Home is a trio of veteran actors who deliver exceptional performances in this piece. Melanie Janzen gives a bold and animated performance as Doris. Her physicality so fully embodies her character, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of Katharine Hepburn as she’d brush back her bangs in her plaid shirt and capris. Playing opposite Janzen is Brigitte Robinson as Ivy, whose poise and elegance are a perfect foil to Doris’ brashness. Robinson gives Ivy a sweet, maternal nature while also showing a deeper, more troubled side to the character. Ian Deakin’s Arthur is the final of these three musketeers. Deakin gives an earnest and heartfelt performance while leaning into his character’s idiosyncrasies. The chemistry and expertise of these three actors makes this production such a joy to watch; they’re so clearly having a good time with one another, and that radiates through their performances. 

William Chesney’s set design for the production is instantly recognizable as a retirement facility: the building’s large automated lobby doors, patio furniture, and gazebo create an ideal ambience for the play. Outdoor planters which change from bright flowers to hearty ferns help denote the passage of time, a choice that’s simple and effective. Alex Amini’s costumes wholly embody the characters; each has their own unique style that fits their personalities to a T. Ivy’s cardigans and flowy shirts, Doris’ colourful plaid shirt, and Arthur’s earth tones let us know immediately who these characters are. 

Doris and Ivy in the Home is a lighthearted story that’ll leave you looking forward to the future — whatever it may bring.

Doris and Ivy in the Home runs in Port Dover until June 8 before moving to Port Colborne from June 12-23. Tickets are available here.