Gary Smith’s Retirement: The End of an Act (and an Era)
Posted on February 21, 2026
Gary Smith (Photo by John Rennison/Spectator file photo)
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For decades, the name Gary Smith has been synonymous with thoughtful, incisive, and deeply felt theatre reviews across our region. As Theatre and Dance Critic for The Hamilton Spectator, Gary brought not only knowledge and experience to his writing but also a genuine love for the art form and the artists who bring it to life. On the occasion of his retirement, all of us at Lighthouse Festival wish to offer our heartfelt gratitude, admiration, and warmest congratulations.
Gary’s reviews were never casual observations dashed off after opening night. They were carefully considered reflections, crafted with intelligence, fairness, and unmistakable wit. He had a remarkable ability to see both the fine detail and the larger artistic vision, and to communicate that insight in a way that welcomed readers into the theatrical experience. His words mattered. They sparked curiosity, encouraged audiences to take a chance on a show, and reminded our community why live performance is so vital.
At Lighthouse Festival, we came to cherish Gary’s annual journeys to our stages. Season after season, he made the trek to experience our productions firsthand, and we always knew he was watching with both a critic’s keen eye and a theatre lover’s open heart. Time and again, his thoughtful coverage helped shine a wider spotlight on our work, often followed by a noticeable, much-appreciated boost in attendance. More than numbers, though, his presence affirmed that what happens on our stages matters beyond our walls.
“Gary understood the spirit of regional theatre,” says Lighthouse Festival Executive Director Nicole Campbell. “He recognized the passion, the risk, and the joy that go into every production, and he honoured that effort with writing that was both honest and generous. We are deeply grateful for the care he showed our artists and our audiences over so many years.”
Beyond the printed page, Gary will also be missed for his wit and charm in person; his easy humour in the lobby, his thoughtful conversations after a performance, and his unmistakable enthusiasm for a well-told story. “Gary never lost sight of why we do this work,” adds Lighthouse Festival Interim Artistic Producer David Leyshon. “He understood that critics don’t stand apart from our community; they are a vital part of it. He celebrated the challenge of making theatre while being keenly aware of the theatre’s aspiration of bringing people together to help us see the world a little differently. His voice has been an important part of our theatrical landscape, and his absence will certainly be felt.”
While retirement marks the end of Gary’s regular deadlines, we hope it also opens the door to many afternoons and evenings spent simply enjoying the show; no notebook required.
Gary, thank you for the miles travelled, the words so carefully chosen, and the unwavering belief in the power of live theatre. Your influence will continue to ripple through our stages and our audiences for years to come.
We wish you every happiness in this next act, Gary. And please remember that you will always have a seat waiting for you at Lighthouse Festival.
Don Kearney-Bourque Marketing & Communications Manager, Lighthouse Festival
This past July saw the passing of two of Canada’s most beloved actors – Michael Blake and Joseph Ziegler. Blake, who died at age 53, performed in 25 productions at the Stratford Festival between 2011 and 2023 including the role of Albany in King Lear (2023), the title role in Othello (2019), Caliban in The Tempest (2018) and Macduff in Macbeth (2016). Blake was one of the finest Shakespearean actors of his generation. He brought a clarity and understanding to Shakespeare’s verse that few could match. I had hoped to see him carry on through all of Shakespeare’s major roles, but I am grateful to have seen him in those he did play. He was a major talent gone too soon.
Ziegler, who died at age 71, lit up the stage for ten seasons at the Stratford Festival where gave us an unforgettable Timon in Timon of Athens (2017); ten seasons at the Shaw Festival where he directed such triumphs as Harvey (2010) and Widowers’ Houses (2003); and was a founding member of Soulpepper where he played a deeply-felt Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman (2010), an imperious Pozzo in Waiting for Godot (2004) and an iconic Scrooge in the company’s frequent stagings of A Christmas Carol (2001 on). His production of Our Town (1999) became one of Soulpepper’s most treasured pieces. We will miss Ziegler whose acting and directing so beautifully combined passion and insight.
A strange characteristic of 2025 was the increase in the number of coproductions. We all know that production costs in theatre have radically increased, and this must be the reason that has driven three and even four theatre companies to collaborate on a single production. Some of the smaller companies, however, which used to produce their own shows, now seem to produce shows only in collaboration. This makes one wonder how a small company can maintain its identity if never produces work on its own.
In contrast, some small companies outside Toronto have been enriching Toronto’s theatre scene by taking productions of their own creation to the big city. Talk Is Free Theatre based in Barrie took four plays to Toronto – Blackbird, Both for Resting and for Breathing, Cock and Tales of an Urban Indian – all to high acclaim. Here For Now Theatre based in Stratford for the second year in a row took one of its plays to Toronto. In addition, theatre companies outside Toronto have taken shows to other theatres outside Toronto. Talk Is Free Theatre took its production of Sondheim’s The Frogs to the Shaw Festival, and Stratford-based Spontaneous Theatre became the first company ever to present works at both the Shaw Festival (Murder-on-the-Lake) and the Stratford Festival (Goblin:Oedipus) in the same season. Small companies benefit by showing their own productions to a larger audience and everyone benefits from seeing the courageous work small regional theatres can do.
Below are my lists of the best shows I reviewed in 2025. Obviously, it is impossible for one person to see all the theatre available in Toronto in one year, much less all that is produced in all of Ontario. So, with this caveat, read on.
Toronto:
In alphabetical order here is my list of the ten best productions in Toronto I reviewed in 2025. As usual, I have excluded productions, such as Mahabharata, that have previously appeared on this list.
Blackbird by David Harrower, Talk Is Free Theatre. A thrilling production of a play about a young woman confronting the man who molested her as a child, a story rendered incendiary by the performances of Cyrus Lane and Kirstyn Russelle.
Bremen Town by Gregory Prest, Tarragon Theatre. A hugely impressive play full of humour and compassion that uses a tale by the Brothers Grimm as a meditation on ageing and death. The cast of vibrant veteran actors alone was an argument against current gerontophobia in the theatre.
Bug by Tracy Letts, The King Black Box with Elkabong Theatre Projects. A devastating and uncannily relevant play that takes us into the paranoia of a conspiracy theorist who takes a vulnerable woman along with him. Phenomenal performances from Nicholas Eddie and L.A. Sweeney.
Fulfillment Centre by Abe Coogler, Coal Mine Theatre. A disquieting comedy in the form of 11 duologues about four lonely people who go about sabotaging their chances at future happiness. The was brilliantly designed and directed and Kristen Thomson gave a beautifully sympathetic account of the conflicted central character.
Garden of Vanished Pleasures by Cecilia Livingston & Donna McKevitt, Soundstreams. A chamber opera about the garden built by queer filmmaker Derek Jarman towards the end of his life. Gorgeous music and flawless performances depicted the courage to live and thrive under the threat of obliteration.
Josiah by Charles Robertson, Thousand Miles of Bricks Productions. The true story of Josiah Henson (1789-1883), a Canadian hero, who was born into slavery in the US and escaped to freedom in Canada, was given a tour de force performance by a commanding Cassel Miles, who played an astonishing 40 characters.
Octetby Dave Malloy, Crow’s Theatre, Soulpepper Theatre & The Musical Stage Company. In both form and content, this amazing a cappella musical depicts the struggles of eight internet addicts trying to regain control of lives they have ceded to technology, indeed, trying to relearn the importance of truly being alive in the present.
Orfeo ed Euridice by Christoph Willibald Gluck, Canadian Opera Company. Robert Carsen’s production is an exquisitely minimalist representation of a world of shadows darkened by grief. With Bernard Labadie conducting, the marvellously expressive counter-tenor Iestyn Davies as Orfeo gave us an evening of sublime beauty.
Tales of an Urban Indian by Darrell Dennis, Talk Is Free Theatre. The TIFT production has been touring since 2009 and it well deserves its fame. The play’s central character, so fully embodied by Nolan Moberly, satirizes everyone, Indigenous people and Settlers alike, including himself, whose own identity we fear is gradually slipping away.
The Winter’s Tale by Christopher Wheeldon, National Ballet of Canada & The Royal Ballet. Wheeldon has made a lesser-known Shakespearean play the basis of a ballet justly hailed “an instant classic”. To Joby Talbot’s powerful, expressive score Wheeldon amazingly translates even the play’s most complex emotions into movement.
Outside Toronto:
In alphabetical order here is my list of the ten best productions outside Toronto that I reviewed in 2025.
Beyonsea and the Mothers by Teneile Warren, Green Light Arts, Kitchener. A wonderfully warm, inclusive, big-hearted play about recent Canadian immigrants from the Caribbean, self-understanding and learning how to make a home in a new place.
Bluebirds by Vern Thiessen, Theatre on the Ridge, Port Perry. A stunning, deeply moving play about three Canadian nurses serving in France during World War I, notable for its formal structure and poetic language. Under Iain Moggach keen direction, the trio of actors played Thiessen’s text as if it were a piece of music.
Dear Liar by Jerome Kilty, Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake. Graeme Somerville and Marla McLean gave an impeccably funny and gripping account of this compilation of the correspondence of G.B. Shaw and famed actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell – a show that took us into the world of Shaw more fully than many recent productions of his plays.
Flight Risk by Meg Braem, Drayton Entertainment, St. Jacobs. Much loved Shaw Festival actor Peter Millard brought a 99-year-old World War II veteran to life in all his complexity in this Canadian play that argues that elderly people have far deeper emotions than young people imagine.
Forgiveness by Hiro Kanagawa, Stratford Festival, Stratford. Kanagawa powerfully presents the ironies of two of his grandparents – one, a Canadian soldier, held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II, the other, a Japanese-Canadian, interned in BC. The title suggests there is only one way to move forward.
Goblin:Oedipus by Rebecca Northan & Bruce Horak, Spontaneous Theatre, Stratford Festival, Stratford. If you thought Goblin:Macbeth was funny, wait till you see these. In the hands of the Goblins, Sophocles’ tragedy was never so outrageously hilarious or, strangely enough, so insightfully staged.
Murder-on-the-Lake by Rebecca Northan & Bruce Horak, Spontaneous Theatre, Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake. The Shaw Festival hasn’t seen a play this funny for more than 20 years. Northan invites a volunteer from the audience to solve a murder on stage. The show is brilliantly imagined and Shaw actors prove as adept at improv as they are at complex cerebral drama.
My Narrator by Norm Foster, Lighthouse Festival, Port Dover. One of Foster’s most experimental plays proves to be one of his best. Two characters have their own narrators who try to guide their lives, but reality and storytelling come into uproarious conflict. Metatheatricality has never been so funny.
Ruby and the Reindeer by Mark Crawford, Here For Now Theatre Company, Stratford. Full of wit and common humanity, the action leads to an astounding surprise. Stratford veterans and the super-talented Tabitha Campbell as Ruby made this a resoundingly joyful experience. Look for this Christmas play to be picked up by theatres across the country.
The Wind Coming Over the Sea by Emma Donoghue, Blyth Festival, Blyth. A play infused with traditional Irish songs about Henry, a young Irishman who emigrates to Canada seeking a better life for his family. Gil Garrett provided outstandingly effective neo-Brechtian staging, and Landon Doak gave a soulful, heartbreaking performance as Henry.
BRANTFORD—An upcoming speaker series aims to inspire local business leaders to take a fresh look at what it means to create a supportive and inclusive workplace.
During October and November, four events will be held across the Grand Erie and Waterloo regions, with each event featuring a speaker who will offer strategies to build dynamic workplaces that embrace and empower all employees.
“Real inclusion doesn’t exclude anyone,” said Danette Dalton, Executive Director of the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie, lead organizer of the speaker series. “Inclusive workplaces value and respect every person and every age demographic – that’s how you build trust and community.”
Dalton said that inclusion has become increasingly politicized, sometimes leading to division and hopelessness, rather than building unity and trust.
“We’re hopeful that people who attend these talks walk away with deeper empathy, broader understanding, and actionable strategies for building workplace teams where everyone feels like they belong,” she said.
The four speakers are:
Sky McLaughlin, a consultant who helps business leaders to create a workplace culture of belonging. October 22 at the Wilkin Family Community Centre, 169 Grand River St. N., Brant County.
Nicki Straza, who will speak about nurturing a workplace where every generation can flourish. November 12, Six Nations Polytechnic – Brantford Campus, 411 Elgin St.
Michael Schiel, who empowers business teams to achieve peak performance through high performance coaching and neuroscience. November 12, Hampton Inn & Suites, St. Jacob’s, as part of the Growing the Workforce Conference.
Keka Dasgupta, a marketing/PR expert who will speak about breaking down barriers in the workplace. Also featuring Dr. Oliver Masakure of Wilfrid Laurier University. November 27, Lighthouse Theatre, 247 Main St., Port Dover.
You can register for some or all of these events by checking out the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie’s social channels (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Blue Sky) or going to Beacons.ai/wpbge. (Edit: you can also click on the link below).
The Inclusive Speaker Series is sponsored by Brant County, Norfolk County, Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Brant Human Resources Network, Six Nations Polytechnic, Wilfrid Laurier University, the Brant County Chamber of Commerce, Ladies Who Lead, Cornerstone Capital Financial Group, and the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie.
This Employment Ontario project is funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.
Review: A Musical Journey Well Worth Taking (Hamilton Spectator)
Posted on September 25, 2025
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Nostalgia buffs get ready to flip out. With this winner you’ll be transported to the golden days of the American Songbook and the golden days of TV’s “Your Hit Parade.”
I hate tribute shows. Why would I want to watch performers pretend to be someone else?
That’s what I always thought, until “Memories of The Rat Pack,” Christopher McHarge’s terrific celebration of the irreplaceable Frankie, Dean and Sammy.
Nostalgia buffs get ready to flip out — with this winner, you’ll be transported to the golden days of the American Songbook and the golden days of TV’s “Your Hit Parade.”
Remember when you could understand every word your favourite star sang? Remember a world when music wasn’t just a thumpity-thump-thump of four-letter words? Remember when gold-plated stars had personalities that reached right off the stage?
Instead of assaulting your ears, they invaded your heart.
Well, get ready for Frankie, Dean and Sammy, three of the greatest male pop stars in the world of entertainment.
Shane Philips as Sammy Davis Jr., Derek Marshall as Dean Martin and Dean Hollin as Frank Sinatra in “Memories of The Rat Pack.”
This is no cheesy imitation show with three phoneys struggling to create sketchy impersonations. No, this is an honest-to-goodness reminder of how terrific the old stars were. It’s all about the way they caressed the lyrics of those wonderful old songs by the likes of Cole Porter, Jimmy McHugh and George Gershwin.
And it’s also about the fun they had on stage, performing at those great watering holes of yesteryear, the Copa Room at the Sands, or The New Frontier in Las Vegas. Or maybe way back east in New York at Jules Podell’s Copacabana and those lavish hotels, such as the Waldorf and The Plaza .
Of course, it’s pretty much all gone today. Places like Toronto’s Imperial Room, where stars like Peggy Lee and those cuties The McGuire Sisters held sway, have turned into boring convention halls.
That’s why a nostalgic look at the likes of the guys known as The Rat Pack is so much fun.
For one thing, they could really sing. There was no messing around about that. When they cut loose on any one of their hit tunes, it was every bit as good as the record you treasured at home.
Thankfully, the stars of the show now in Port Dover mostly don’t try to imitate their voices. They don’t have to, they’ve got terrific voices of their own, so instead they interpret, rather than impersonate, the fab three.
When Dean Hollin leans into Sinatra’s “My Way,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “One More for the Road,” you know those songs have been superbly sung. Hollin has an ingratiating — no, make that charming — way about him. He fills the stage with his voice and his presence. He makes you glad you’re listening.
Originally from Hamilton, where he sang in a handful of musicals at Hamilton Theatre Inc., and acted the hell out of some dramatic shows at Burlington Little Theatre, Hollin is worth the trip to Dover all on his own.
But then, so are the guys who share the stage with him.
Derek Marshall is the real cutup of the trio, finding both the comic zest of Dean Martin, as well as the wonderful laid-back quality of his voice. He has fun with “That’s Amore” and “You’re Nobody ‘til Somebody Loves You,” and he conjures perfectly the charm of Italy with “An Evening in Roma.”
Shane Phillips comes into his own as Sammy Davis Jr. with “Mr. Bojangles” and “What Kind of Fool Am I.” And when the three singers come together on one of the oldies but goodies, they rock the roof off the theatre.
The show is supported by a live six-piece band led by Stephen Ingram, a Hamilton lad who’s well on his way to becoming a super hot musical director and pianist.
Things deflate a little late in the second act, when McHarge tries to resurrect the kind of madcap comedy the original Rat Pack did on the Vegas stage.
Imagine sitting ringside at The Sands after a few drinks, watching Sammy, Dean and Frank kibitzing on stage, pulling down each other’s pants, interrupting each other’s big numbers, and generally acting like goons. Of course it worked.
But it’s not easy to create that same supercharged atmosphere on stage in Port Dover. The guys work a touch too hard to be funny and the nonsense goes on a tad too long. Worse yet, this distraction interrupts the show’s build at a crucial point, so it takes a while to get things back on track.
It’s the songs, and the way these guys sing them, that holds “Memories of The Rat Pack” together, and fortunately there’s plenty to enjoy.
For my money, cavils aside, this is one of the best entertainments I’ve seen this year. Go celebrate the genius of three of the best male entertainers in Vegas history. This one deserves full houses all through its run.
Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
Gary Smith has written about theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator, as well as a variety of international publications, for more than 40 years.
PORT DOVER—Life moves fast as John – the lead character in Lighthouse Theatre’s final production of their 2025 summer season, Here on the Flight Path – knows all too well.
A newspaper columnist and recent divorcee whose ex took everything but the shirt on his back, John has found himself living in the upper corner apartment of the Aurora. This faded building on the rough side of town is where John’s initial exuberance for his newfound freedom is slowly giving way to feelings of aimlessness, loneliness, and isolation.
The action revolves around John’s relationships with three neighbours, all of whom come to occupy the apartment next to his over a period of time. Set on the apartment’s rooftop balcony under neon-bathed lights, John slowly learns some deep lessons about himself as each successive relationship plays out.
The play is performed by just two actors: Reid Janisse as John, and Julia Dyan as all three of his neighbours: Fay, Angel, and Gwen. It’s a Lighthouse debut for both actors, though both have a list of acting credits that include popular TV shows like The Boys, Umbrella Academy, Murdoch Mysteries, and What We Do In The Shadows.
The pair shines brightly. Janisse effortlessly controls the show’s tone as a master of the deadpan reaction planting some pathos into a character who slowly proves to the audience – and himself – that there might be more to be seen than the sad sack aimlessly sliding through life who we meet in the show’s opening moments.
In her three roles, Dyan is the perfect foil for Janisse. She can make you forget that you’re watching the same actor, disappearing into each successive role and imbuing each with their own unique personality and traits. Impressively, the two actors generate a different flavour of chemistry as each successive relationship plays out.
“What I love about Here on the Flight Path is that it reminds us how every person we meet leaves a mark, no matter how brief their appearance in our lives,” said show director Derek Ritschel.
Written by Lighthouse regular Norm Foster, the play exhibits all the traits Foster’s fans love him for: easy, relaxed dialogue; a sack full of zingers, one liners, and double entendres that had the audience in stitches on opening night; and a solid lesson to be learned before the curtain falls.
The apartment set is an impressive sight, creating a realistic approximation of the two rooftop apartments, bathed in warm light and topped with a neon pink ‘Aurora’ sign that gives the play a fun ‘Los Angeles in the 80s’ vibe.
Here on the Flight Path is playing now until September 13 at Lighthouse Festival Theatre in Port Dover. It moves to Port Colborne’s Roselawn Theatre September 17 to 28. For tickets or more information, visit lighthousetheatre.com or call 1-888-779-7703.
That’s not all for Lighthouse though. With a fall and winter schedule full of upcoming musical tribute performances, and season topper Memories of the Rat Pack running in Port Dover from September 16 to 27 and Port Colborne from October 1 to 5, there’s plenty to look forward to until Lighthouse returns for their 2026 summer season.
After studying journalism at Humber College, Mike Renzella desired to write professionally but found himself working in technical fields for many years. Beginning in 2019 as a freelancer, he joined the team full-time later that year. Since then, Mike has won several awards for his articles thanks to his commitment to presenting an unbiased, honest look at the important news and events shaping our community.
Review: ‘Flight Path’ at Port Dover is Norm Foster at his best (Hamilton Spectator)
Posted on September 4, 2025
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This is vintage Foster. It’s the popular Canadian playwright at his best. He’s not afraid here to let us feel a little something — cry a little, even — for the sometimes-bewildering way life knocks us around.
I’m tired of all those theatre snobs who snub Norm Foster. They like to downgrade the work of Canada’s main funnyman.
Too bad.
When it comes to theatre, Foster is our kingpin of comedy. The guy knows how to make us laugh. After all, he’s written 74 plays. And yes, I know, they’re not all terrific. But plenty of them are, and they’ll tickle your funny bone while they warm the cockles of your heart.
Take “Here On The Flight Path,” the Foster comedy currently packing the Lighthouse Festival Theatre in Port Dover. It’s a real corker.
The cast and crew of “Here on the Flight Path.” The play is written by Norm Foster and directed by Derek Ritschel. This is vintage Foster, Gary Smith writes. It’s the popular Canadian playwright at his best. Photo Credit: Aidia Mandryk
Just ask Foster himself, who says it’s his funniest play.
“I think there are more laugh lines in that play than anything I’ve produced before or since,” he says. When you consider the impact of other big Foster winners, like “The Melville Boys” and “The Foursome” that’s saying something.
“Here On The Flight Path,” is about relationships. It’s all about trying to connect. Three women are at a crossroads in their lives. There’s sweet and sassy Fay, a hooker who works out on her balcony. She’s lots of fun and catches the eye of John Cummings, her on-the-make next door neighbour.
Then there’s Angel, a bit of a goofus who fancies herself something of a Streisand-style singer and has Cummings in her eye line. Add down in the dumps Gwen. Divorced and bored, she’s looking for someone who’ll give her spirits a lift.
And guess what? In director Derek Ritschel’s compelling Lighthouse production, all three of these very different ladies are played by the same terrific actress.
That’s the way Foster wrote the play. And frankly, it’s the only way to do justice to this warm-hearted comedy. A lot of theatres don’t trust a trifecta performance, so they tend to cast three actresses to play the women who move in one at a time to the apartment next to John Cummings. And that robs the play of its real punch.
Certainly, Julia Dyan makes all three of Foster’s women believable, finding under Ritschel’s sometimes pushed, but always assured direction, a trio of characters who not only lean on the play’s comic surface, but find in its undertow an important, underlying heartbeat.
Foster told me he believes, “These women are at a crossroads in their lives and Cummings is the lovable loser on hand to help each of them through a crisis.”
This centres the play’s undercurrent of truth squarely on the relationship each of them has with friendly neighbour Cummings. Any actor tackling Foster’s male role must have a charming exterior, as well as the ability to engage us in an understanding of his own vulnerability.
Even when he’s acting like a know-it-all male, looking for the main chance, puffing out his chest like some randy rooster, this guy’s got to be to be likable.
Happily, Reid Janisse is just that sort of actor. He’s a guy with a lot of heart, even when he’s putting the make on his female neighbours. I guess you could call it chemistry. That’s what works in each of the encounters Cummings has with his vulnerable neighbours.
And it’s what gives Foster’s play something a lot more than a series of jokes and one-liners.
The play is set on adjoining apartment balconies, designed by Eric Bunnell. They look like a place where Angel, Gwen, Fay and John would actually live. There is nothing spectacular in these realistic outdoor spaces, but they have a lived-in look about them that is perfect.
As usual, designer Alex Amini provides costumes that cling to a play’s characters like a second skin. We just know, for instance, Angel would dress with a flair for kookiness that’s a signal of an obvious cry for attention. And we know too, that Fay would dress with a sexy sophisticated edge that announces she’s available, even if it is at a cost.
Because “Here On The Flight Path” is a play about male-female relationships it never avoids finding the funny side of sexual flirtation and expectation.
At the same time, it doesn’t ignore the undertow of truth that makes you care about its vulnerable characters, caught in a need for companionship, human longing and maybe even love.
This is vintage Foster. It’s the popular Canadian playwright at his best. He’s not afraid here to let us feel a little something — cry a little, even — for the sometimes-bewildering way life knocks us around.
When Foster is at his best, the worlds of comedy and drama ally nicely. That means theatre exists at the sweet spot, somewhere where we can sit in our seat and sigh contentedly.
This one is easily 10 out of 10.
Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
Gary Smith has written about theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator, as well as a variety of international publications, for more than 40 years.
Pinkerton Comes To Prospect by Jamie Williams belongs to a genre (or perhaps sub-genre) of farce that plays fast and loose with the presumed conventions of the melodramas that flourished at the turn of the last century. These shows tend to feature frontier settings, outlandish plots, ludicrous coincidences, evil villains, absurdly overdrawn comic characters, and young love. They are decidedly and unapologetically low-brow.
Pinkerton Comes to Prospect, which is now receiving its world premiere at the Lighthouse Theatre in Dover, Ontario, has all that and then some. If your taste in comedy tends to Tom Stoppard, steer clear. But if you can check your artsy-fartsy pretensions at the door you can have a rollicking good time as did the sell-out audience with whom I saw the show.
It’s 1890, somewhere on the frontier, and the Prospect to which Pinkerton comes has seen better times. The town is hollowing out and as a result “Doc” Hennessey (Matthew Olver) who owns the ramshackle saloon in which the action takes place is not only the town’s mayor but also it’s doctor and dentist.
Doc runs the joint with the help (if it can be called that) of Amos (Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski), a dipsomaniacal idiot who is hard to describe. Imagine the love child of Gomer Pyle and Gunsmoke’s Chester with a lobotomy.
When Pinkerton Comes To Prospect opens, Doc has his hands full. For starters his life isn’t worth a plug nickel. A contretemps at a card game in another town some nine months ago has resulted in a threat from a gunslinger named Tallahassee Trigger, who is worth $300 dead or alive and is heading to Prospect to settle a score. In self-defense Doc has hired the legendary Pinkerton Agency to protect him.
Enter Herschel Penkerton (Ryan Bommarito) – that’s Penkerton with an “e” – a mild-mannered surveyor who is suffering from an impacted molar. Fortunately, Doc has been studying mesmerism and in his role as town dentist tries to hypnotize Herschel to facilitate the removal of that tooth.
Thanks to a player piano that has a mind of its own (and unbeknownst to either Doc or Amos), the mesmerized Herschel turns into a mad rooster every time the piano springs to life. (Did I mention that Pinkerton Comes To Prospect has an outlandish plot?)
Of course, the similarity of names leads Doc to believe that Herschel is the deadly marksman the Pinkerton Agency has sent to gun down Tallahassee. As the hackneyed saying goes, much hilarity ensues.
Then there is the mandatory romantic subplot involving Doc’s niece Lacey (Evelyn Wiebe) and Herschel the land surveyor who falls head over theodolite in love with her. Unfortunately for him Lacey is an independently-minded young lady intent on fleeing Prospect to pursue a college degree in Chicago.
In the second act, the arrival of a mysterious figure identified in the programme as Widow Hazard’s Friend (Jessica Sherman) turns the plot of Pinkerton Comes To Prospect inside out and now my lips are sealed.
Playwright Williams is the Artistic Associate at the Foster Festival and has appeared in a number of Norm Foster plays (On A First Name Basis, The Christmas Tree) so it might seem reasonable that some of that Foster magic has rubbed off.
So it has. Pinkerton Comes To Prospect is peppered with a fair quota of genuine laugh lines, a few of which are on the raunchy side.
One of the attractions of farces like Pinkerton Comes To Prospect is that they can feature overacting, bad acting, even no acting at all and still be enjoyable. In fact, they wouldn’t be as much fun if they didn’t include at least some of those characteristics.
While director Steven Gallagher acknowledges all of those facets in his production, he is working with a nimble cast that knows how to take a fall, smash a fellow cast member in the face with a spade, milk a laugh, and take a joke to the very brink of too-much without falling off the cliff.
In the hands of the wrong actor the deliberately overdrawn Amos could be excruciating. The rubber-limbed Shepherd-Gawinski makes him a non-stop hoot. I was in awe at the way he hopped drunkenly across the stage on one foot while trying to put on his shoes.
Wiebe and Bommarito are really sweet as the love interest and I found myself rooting for them. Wiebe brings genuine depth to the spunky Lacey and, not incidentally, Bommarito makes a most amusing mad rooster.
Olver handles the twists and turns of Doc’s fear and frustration quite nicely and Sherman brings just the right tone to Widow Hazard’s Friend.
As I have come to expect at the Lighthouse, the production values are first rate. The set by Megan Cinel, which seems to be comprised largely of boards salvaged from a construction site, straddles frontier grit and Sunday afternoon cartoon most amusingly.
Once again, Alex Amini has contributed terrific costumes – Widow Hazard’s Friend’s outfit is especially droll – and Alex Sykes has lit it all nicely.
No programme credit was given for the sound design, but it was first rate, especially that player piano and those ricocheting bullets.
Pinkerton Comes To Prospect continues at the Lighthouse Theatre in Dover through August 16, 2025 and then transfers to Port Colborne where it plays from August 20 to August 31, 2025. For more information and to purchase tickets visit the Lighthouse Festival website.
Like mistaken identities and shootouts in saloons? Like a lily-white good guy who’s fighting for truth and justice in a town where six-shooters define the kind of law and order that ruled the Old West?
Want to watch the good guy, handsome as a hoot owl on a hot summer night, make a sweet bid for the perky, but emancipated town dream queen?
Well then, I’ve got a comedy for you.
“Pinkerton Comes to Prospect” is old-time nostalgia knocked right into the 21st century. It sits quite nicely on the Lighthouse Festival Theatre stage at Port Dover against set designer Megan Cinel’s nostalgic-looking set, washed over by Alex Sykes’ painterly lighting.
“Pinkerton Comes to Prospect” stars, from left, Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski, Ryan Bommarito, Matthew Olver, Jessica Sherman and Evelyn Wiebe. Photo Credit: Don Kearney-Bourque
Everyone is dressed appropriately in costume designer Alex Amini’s worn western duds, looking like folks out of a vintage John Huston movie. It’s easy to believe, in fact, that we are in some 1890 town somewhere in North America.
Fortunately, a strong acting cast is on hand to get us through some rather broad comedy of the most physical kind, before Jamie Williams’ rather schizophrenic play decides to settle down and look for a modicum of truth in the better-constructed second act.
It’s worth the wait.
Director Steven Gallagher is a dab hand at the sort of choreography that makes the physical nonsense of the outrageous sort work. With “Pinkerton Comes to Prospect” he’s even better at making the romantic warmth of the relationships in playwright Williams’ last act navigate some leftover silliness.
This allows us to walk out of the theatre feeling such old-fashioned values as family, love and loyalty to relations and friends are, at the same time, thoroughly modern and worth caring about.
Even so, it’s difficult to understand what Williams is trying to do early on with so much overt comedy. He tends to swamp the play with laugh lines before finally settling down to make his characters believable.
Of course, in many ways the play is a farce, with all the madness and outrageous invention of such a genre.When young and handsome Herschel Penkerton comes to town with his cartographer’s equipment to do some survey work, he is mistaken for a tough gunslinger called Pinkerton, hired by Prospect’s town mayor to protect him from a bold gunfighter who plans to do him in.
Now, I wouldn’t dream of telling you how things turn out. And you probably wouldn’t believe me if I did. Let’s just say you’ll have fun watching the craziness work itself out and more reality creep in.
Ryan Bommarito is perfect as the poor put-upon Penkerton falling for the outspoken Miss Lacey of Evelyn Wiebe. She’s spot-on as the emancipated woman he chooses to share his cartographer’s tools with.
Matthew Olver has fun with the role of Doc, the mayor, doctor, slightly sadistic dentist, and a bit of a selfish cad. Because this is a comedy he, of course, straightens up and finally comes to terms with happiness.
Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski, who was terrific in “Bed and Breakfast” in Dover, works a tad too hard here at the role of Amos, the saloon dogsbody. He isn’t helped by being handed laugh lines that just don’t land and by being made to perform visual shtick that becomes tiresome.
It’s not his fault, either, that the role has been written with a very heavy hand.
I can’t tell you a lot about the character Jessica Sherman plays without giving away a key surprise and spoiling your enjoyment of the play. Let’s just say Sherman gives a terrific performance and helps to give this comedy its second act resuscitation that gives the play its rapidly beating heart.
“Pinkerton Comes to Prospect” begins as an outrageous comedy with physical high-jinks and plenty of comic situations.
It finishes by becoming a rather gentle and loving look at romance, friendship and truth, and suggests the need to embrace the world with hope and humane intentions. What starts out as a frantic, overly busy comedy, becomes a warm and tender realization of how necessary family and union really are.
Whether you ever cared for western movies or not, you’ll find much to like in this well-paced Canadian comedy.
Go have fun.
Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
Gary Smith has written about theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator, as well as a variety of international publications, for more than 40 years.
PORT DOVER—There’s gold to be mined in the hills of Prospect, and there’s comedy gold aplenty to be found in the worldwide premiere of Lighthouse Festival Theatre’s latest in their summer series, ‘Pinkerton Comes to Prospect.’
The fourth show in Lighthouse’s 2025 lineup keeps the hot streak alive, bringing another joke-filled slapstick farce to the stage and keeping the crowd in stitches throughout with a tale of love, courage, misunderstandings, and whiskey in the Old West.
With Prospect on its last legs, kept alive only by the possibility of gold in the hills, Doc refuses to leave, instead hiring renowned gunslinger Pinkerton to help him deal with Trigger. When mild-mannered cartographer Herschel Penkerton walks through the door instead, the stage is set for the hilarity to follow.
Playwright Jamie Williams was inspired by the comic western films of his youth, starring legends like Don Knotts and Tim Conway, such as ‘The Apple Dumpling Gang’ and ‘The Shakiest Gun in the West.’
The cast is more than up to the task of bringing this story to life. Ryan Bommarito fills the shoes of the misplaced Penkerton, Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski is stealing scenes as Amos – the town drunk who can’t seem to find a drink to save his life, Matthew Oliver plays Doc, Evelyn Wiebe is Doc’s niece Lacey, and Jessica Sherman is playing a role that would amount to a spoiler if revealed to you now.
It’s a Lighthouse debut for both Sherman and Bommarito.
As Penkerton, Bommarito draws big laughs, hypnotized to prance around the stage like a chicken every time the bar’s player piano kicks in, while Sherman does a great job with her mystery role, giving the story a nice twist.
As Lacey, Wiebe is given a character imbued with more modern sensibilities, eager to leave the dying town she grew up in for Chicago, where she plans to study and start a new life. That is, until Penkerton walks through the saloon doors and falls head over heels for her, disrupting her plans.
Shepherd-Gawinski once again showcases the incredible comic talent he previously displayed in Lighthouse productions ‘Bed and Breakfast’ and ‘Murder at Ackerton Manor,’ constantly hovering in the background of scenes to deliver a hilarious one-liner or take a comic pratfall.
The play is directed by Steven Gallagher, returning to Lighthouse for his second show following last summer’s hilarious ‘Murder at Ackerton Manor.’ Batting 2-2, Gallagher once again shows a knack for fast-paced buffoonery with a big, exposed heart in the middle.
Production values are top notch, with period-authentic costumes, six shooters that fire with the appropriate bang, and a well-constructed set that brings Prospect to life.
So, if you’re craving a dose of frontier foolishness, packed with quick-draw quips, rootin’-tootin’ mischief, and enough laughs to lasso even the grumpiest cowpoke, saddle up and head to Lighthouse Theatre for ‘Pinkerton Goes to Prospect.’
The show will be on stage at Port Dover’s Lighthouse Festival Theatre through August 16 before moving to Port Colborne’s Roselawn Theatre from August 20-31.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit lighthousetheatre.com or call 1-888-779-7703.
After studying journalism at Humber College, Mike Renzella desired to write professionally but found himself working in technical fields for many years. Beginning in 2019 as a freelancer, he joined the team full-time later that year. Since then, Mike has won several awards for his articles thanks to his commitment to presenting an unbiased, honest look at the important news and events shaping our community.
Miles: “If you don’t make a purchase then you won’t really be my first customer, will you? You’ll be my first lost sale. My first dismal failure at my new job”
People who think they know what a Norm Foster play is like will be surprised by the double bill titled Hidden Treasures current being presented by the Lighthouse Festival. Neither the first play My Narrator (2006) nor the second play The Death of Me (2007) are realistic plays in familiar settings examining common human foibles. Both plays, published together as One-Actmanship in 2008, are fantasies. My Narrator is a highly metatheatrical look at human behaviour while The Death of Me is an inquiry into the nature of fate. Both are well-acted, well-directed and beautifully designed, though, of the two, My Narrator is by far the more successful play. Together the two demonstrate that Foster’s output is more varied than is commonly believed.
As Foster says of My Narrator, “ Imagine what would happen if that little voice inside your head – the one that tells you how to behave and what choices to make – suddenly took on a life of its own?” That is what happens in the play and more. Foster’s conception of a person’s narrator is not just their inner voice but a voice that represents their character to the public in the theatre. The play begins with Barb, Lacy’s Narrator, describing the action in direct address to the audience. This situation creates a humour that only increases since the Narrator constantly makes public their character’s most private thoughts.
The play’s other human character is Miles, who sorely lacks a Narrator at the start but acquires one named Bob when he tries to pull himself together to make a good impression on Lacy. The fact that Miles and Lacy’s banal interactions are constantly being mediated by two Narrators who also try to influence the action they describe means that Foster makes us constantly aware that we are in the theatre. Of the 26 plays by Foster that I’ve seen so far, My Narrator is both the funniest and the most theatre-conscious. You might think the metatheatricality would wipe out the comedy, but Foster’s play is so well written the former only heightens the latter.
The question that propels the action is how Miles, who is hopelessly awkward socially and a failure at all he does, can possibly win over Lacy, a sensible, strong-minded woman who is so clearly out of his league. The action is funny enough when the couple’s two Narrators advise their charges on what to do. It becomes even more comic when the two Narrators begin to interact on their own. Foster has amazingly taken us to a psychic realm that can only exist in the theatre.
David Leyshon is hilarious as Miles. He shows not only how Miles makes one social blunder after another but how his self-consciousness about making these blunders only leads him to make more blunders. We cringe when Leyshon’s Miles thinks he knows better than his Narrator and proceeds to do the wrong thing. Most importantly, however, is that Leyshon manages to convey clearly that despite all his missteps, Miles has a good heart. Leyshon also shows how in trying to make himself worthy of Lacy, he actually does begin to improve. Leyshon is an expert at verbal and physical comedy whose presence on stage I have been missing for some time.
As Lacy, Jennifer Dzialoszynski, who presence I have also been missing, well plays the plucky, down-to-earth Lacy. What Dzialoszynski does so well is to show how Lacy’s opinion of Miles gradually changes from one of contempt to amusement to sympathy. Without portraying this change of emotion so clearly it would be impossible for us to believe that someone like Lacy could ever fall for someone like Miles.
Melanie Janson as Barb and Stephen Sparks as Bob are both masters of comedy. Much of the show’s humour derives from the dryly ironic view that both Narrators take of their human characters. Both Narrators are sceptical that Miles and Lacy will ever form a romantic relationship and Barb in particular tries to steer lacy away from Miles. Nevertheless, when the two Narrators see what is developing despite their advice they try to steer the story to as happy an ending as they can manage. I don’t think such super-self-awareness has ever been portrayed so delightfully on stage.
While My Narrator truly is a gem of Canadian comedy, The Death of Me is never able to reach that level. It begins with a very strong scene between the recently deceased John and the Angel of Death. The notion that the afterlife is as plagued with bureaucracy as is life on earth is a familiar one seen in such films as Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) in heaven and Heaven Can Wait (1943) in hell. In The Death of Me, John, an unfailingly polite and considerate young man, is unhappy that he has died so soon and thinks it must me a mistake. Yet, he is even more unhappy that it will likely be his mother who will discover his body when she visits after a three-day weekend.
The Angel of Death at first is cold and unmoved by John’s concerns and is anxious that he fill out the voluminous forms required for entry to heaven. Yet, John is so obviously a good person whose entry to heaven is certain that the Angel decides to give John a chance to return to earth sort out the few things that need sorting before he returns to her desk.
The main question John wants answered is why his fiancée Cassie jilted him at the altar on their wedding day four years ago never to be heard from again. What did he do that was so wrong? It happens that John discovers that Cassie is working at the licence renewal office and never went to university as she claimed she was going to do. What is worse is that Cassie seems to be suffering from paranoia. Once we realize that Cassie’s strange behaviour is a symptom of a psychological condition, there is nothing Foster can do to make the interactions between John and Cassie at all funny.
We start to wonder whether Cassie showed signs of paranoia before the wedding, whether the wedding preparations somehow triggered her paranoia and, if so, why her paranoia has lasted for four years after what would have been her wedding day. Unfortunately, Foster gives us no answers to these questions. It seems that Foster wants to show us that John has actually had a lucky escape by not marrying Cassie. Yet, John’s leaving Cassie without suggesting she get help leaves us unsatisfied.
John’s next meeting is with the Doctor who failed to notice the aortic aneurysm that killed John. John finds that the Doctor is callous, self-centred and hates seeing patients so much he tries to get them to leave his office as soon as he can.
The Death of Me ends with a surprise revelation back in the office of the Angel of Death which I will not relate. Foster assumes we can fill in the various steps that lead to this conclusion, but it is certainly not as clear as it should be.
David Leyshon plays John as a kind-hearted man who is genuinely perplexed why he should have died so young and is more concerned for the grief those left behind will feel than he is for his own death. In contrast to Leyshon’s moving portrayal of human sorrow is Melanie Jansen’s comic officiousness and unconcern for John, the latest in an infinite number of clients waiting to see her. What Jansen does so well is to show that underneath the Angel’s attitude of deep boredom dimly gleams the recognition that John has been hard done by. The Angel will not admit there could ever have been a mistake, but her ability to send John back makes us think rules governing the afterlife are not as strict as the Angel claims they are.
As Cassie, Dzialoszynski gives such a finely detailed depiction of paranoia that our worry for Cassie silences any humour that could be attached to the condition. Similarly, Sparks’s portrayal of the obnoxiously flippant Doctor tends to make us dislike the characters rather to laugh at him. In both cases these are flaws in the play rather than flaws in acting.
Not requiring the realism in design that most Foster plays require has allowed set designer Beckie Morris’s imagination free rein. The result is spectacular. Morris has given the stage at the Lighthouse Theatre an angular off-kilter proscenium inside the theatre’s regular proscenium that signals as soon as we see it that the world of these plays will be quite unusual. The off-kilter proscenium contains lights that change colour to reflect the changing mood of the action.
My Narrator features moveable set pieces in dazzlingly bright colours that can cleverly be shifted and recombined to represent different locations. Alex Amini’s costumes for Miles and Lacy follow the same bright colours. The Narrators, however, she clothes in lavender from head to toe. In The Death of Me Morris imagines the afterlife all in white with touches of grey associated only with John. The Angel, clad in white, sits on a white chair at a white desk. Only the blade of her scythe, amusingly hung on a hook of the wall, is silver. When the Angel takes on her role as the Grim Reaper, she dons the expected long hooded cloak of black. When we travel back to earth for the scenes with Cassie and the Doctor, we return to the vivid colours of My Narrator.
Hidden Treasures is worth seeing if only to experience the My Narrator, surely one of the best Canadian comedies ever written. This is a play and a production that no lover of theatre should miss. If The Death of Me fails to equal My Narrator as a play, it is still made enjoyable by the fine acting of the cast and witty design. Few artistic directors programme double-bills even though there are innumerable one-act plays out there that never get staged. Kudos to Jane Spence for having the insight to programme Hidden Treasures and to stage it with so much zest.
PORT DOVER—It’s double the laughs and double the fun on the stage of Port Dover’s iconic Lighthouse Theatre this month, with ‘Hidden Treasures,’ a collection of two one-act plays written by Canadian playwright Norm Foster and brought to the stage with energy and style by Lighthouse’s newest Artistic Director, Jane Spence.
Over the course of a breezy two hours, the two shows are brimming with non-stop, fast paced zingers aplenty, performed with gusto by a quartet of seasoned performers.
First up is ‘My Narrator.’ In the opening act, patrons are introduced to Lacy and Miles, played by Jennifer Dzialoszynski and David Leyshon, a pair of down on their luck adults who stumble into each other’s lives through a chance encounter.
Spicing up this love story are the two characters’ inner narrators, performed by Melanie Janzen and Stephen Sparks. The play smartly inserts the narrators into every scene, offering biting criticism of the unfolding romance, and later flipping the script in surprising and humorous ways.
All four actors acquit themselves well, clearly relishing the juicy one-liners and awkward moments served up to them through Foster’s inspired script.
The show marks Dzialoszynski’s Lighthouse debut. Given her perfect comedic timing and shining presence on the stage, it likely won’t be her last time under the bright lights.
A short intermission later (with a stop at Lighthouse’s well-stocked bar for a signature show-exclusive cocktail or a cold craft beer), the lights rise on the show’s second act, titled, ‘The Death of Me.’
In it, John (played by Leyshon) finds himself sitting in an all-white office facing none other than the Angel of Death herself, played by Janzen in a role that brings to mind Elizabeth Hurley’s turn as the devil in the 2000’s era comedy classic ‘Bedazzled.’
This grim reaper may have the hood and the scythe, but she also has a wicked sense of humour and is prone to granting her victims a second chance if they really deserve it.
John, faced with his untimely death, finds himself pleading his case with urgency, worried that in his attempts to be a nice, good person, he lived a life that left no mark. Given 12 hours to go back and change that fortune, John embarks on a mission that brings him in contact with the woman who left him on the altar years prior, played by Dzialoszynski, and a checked-out doctor, played by Sparks, who cares more about the ingredients in his lunch sandwich than he does about the aneurysm that’s set to end John’s life for the second time in mere hours.
It’s a madcap story with a good, timely message about the decisions we all make in life and where they lead us.
Taken together, the two shows make for a fun, highly entertaining evening out of the house. Director Spence keeps the action flowing brilliantly with a simple, versatile, and brightly colourful set that is easily re-arranged and re-purposed throughout the runtime by the actors onstage.
Foster credited Spence with the idea of combining the two plays, written in 2007 and 2008, stating, “I’m so pleased with the result.”
‘Hidden Treasures’ will be on the Port Dover stage until July 26, and then at Port Colborne’s Roselawn Theatre from July 30 to August 10. For tickets or more information, visit lighthousetheatre.com or call the box office at 1-888-779-7703.
After studying journalism at Humber College, Mike Renzella desired to write professionally but found himself working in technical fields for many years. Beginning in 2019 as a freelancer, he joined the team full-time later that year. Since then, Mike has won several awards for his articles thanks to his commitment to presenting an unbiased, honest look at the important news and events shaping our community.
Opinion: Found in Port Dover – Norm Foster’s ‘Hidden Treasures’ (Hamilton Spectator)
Posted on July 8, 2025
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Right now, Foster is busy looking to the past. He’s pulled two one-act plays from his theatre trunk and they’ll be performed in tandem at Port Dover’s Lighthouse Festival Theatre.
Norm Foster is without a doubt Canada’s favourite playwright.
The fact is, in many ways, Foster’s comedies express indelibly what you might call a Canadian sense of humour.
“I am certainly Canadian, and I write as a Canadian,” Foster says. “I think that just naturally comes through in my work. I don’t try to sound like a Canadian. I don’t have to. It’s there in my DNA. I love it when people refer to me as that, ‘Canadian playwright Norm Foster.’”
He loves working with Canadian theatre companies and the talented folks who make his plays so successful here on his home turf.
“All those talented actors, actresses, designers and directors are terrific. There is such a wealth of talent here on the Canadian theatre scene, and I’m lucky I get to experience it firsthand. It’s just so satisfying.”
So far, Foster has written 83 plays, and he’s not planning on stopping any time soon.
“They’ve all been produced at least once,” Foster says, “Except for the latest ‘Kate Pays a Visit.’ It’s up for grabs,” he says. “Anyone interested?”
Right now, Foster is busy looking to the past. He’s pulled two one-act plays from his theatre trunk and they’ll be performed in tandem at Port Dover’s Lighthouse Festival Theatre.
“Written around the same time in my career, they weren’t meant to be performed together. But they have a similar feel about them, so they should work as a pair.”
Foster believes they’ll give audiences big things to laugh at.
“I hope these are laugh-out-loud comedies,” he says. “I don’t write plays people are meant to snicker at.”
Performed under the blanket title, “Hidden Treasures,” “My Narrator” and “The Death of Me” are comedies all right, but with a darker edge.
“It was Lighthouse artistic director Jane Spence’s idea to call the pair ‘Hidden Treasures,’” Foster says. “And I suppose in a way they are. One-act plays are not performed that often today. Written in 2007 and 2010 these two are like extended sketches.
“I wrote ‘My Narrator’ because I thought it was a good idea to have characters who have a narrator telling them what to do. The other play, ‘The Death of Me,’ is about a man who dies and doesn’t realize he’s dead, until the Angel of Death breaks the news to him.”
Foster says he writes to please himself, not to fulfil the expectations of his audience.
“If I think something is funny, chances are audiences will find it funny, too. I’m a middle-of-the-road kind of a guy. And I’m sure if I tried to write to please an audience I would fail.”
Foster believes his writing style has changed over the years.
“When I first started I would map out a play from start to finish before I began writing it. But now, with growing confidence, I just start with an idea and begin without knowing where it’s going. And yes, the characters take over and almost write themselves. I was finishing a play last month, and as I got to the point where a play usually finishes up, around page 80 or 85, I thought to myself, ‘I can’t wait to see how this ends.’”
Foster believes audiences come to his plays because they can identify with them. They see someone on stage they know. He doesn’t like to name favourites, but he definitely has some.
“‘The Melville Boys’ is near to my heart because that’s the play that put me on the map, the one I’m best known for. ‘Jonas and Barry in the Home’ is up there, too, because I toured with it as Jonas, doing hundreds of performances. ‘On A First Name Basis’ is what I consider to be my most intelligent play. I punched way above my weight with that one. I’m proud of it.
“The one that surprised me most though was, ‘Halfway There’ which has become my most produced play. It’s about the friendship between 4 women. Four nice people. Good human beings. And I am very happy that it has caught on with audiences.”
Foster is philosophical about success.
“If I have a play that doesn’t do as well as the others I can usually tell you why. It just wasn’t as good. It can be for a number of reasons. Subject matter. Character development. Not funny enough. The reasons become very obvious to me.”
Foster’s new work now frequently has a darker undertow that battles the comedy for attention.
“I guess that comes from living life. We’ve all gone through dark periods. I’m fortunate I can use those as fodder for the heartfelt moments in my plays. I am a firm believer if you haven’t had any difficult times you can’t be a complete writer,” Foster says.
“The greatest pleasure in my life has been to be able to earn a living and support a family writing plays. I don’t consider it work. But it is work, of course. I’m very lucky. I’ve never had to work as hard as my parents did, not for one day in my life.”
When you ask Foster if he feels we value our playwrights and artists in this country, he demurs.
“I can’t say for sure. I feel valued, but I’m one of the lucky ones.”
Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
Gary Smith has written about theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator, as well as a variety of international publications, for more than 40 years.
