Summer Shorts

After a long delay to move into their new home, it is perhaps serendipitous that Melville Theatre Company debuted their new venue with their short play season - with simpler sets and technical requirements an ideal chance to get used to their new venue. For the audience, the new venue feels quite familiar, with a similar double foyer arrangement and a high set stage. The venue’s raised, retractable seating is comfortable and spacious.

Summer Shorts features three locally written plays, all directed by their authors. Very different in style and content, they combine well to create a varied evening of entertainment.

Birth, Death and in Between is written and directed by Kerry Bowden and features lone actor Nick Stevenson. Three connected monologues feature three men of very different ages as they face major events in their lives, with the monologues also exploring a plethora of diverse supporting characters. Nick does a superb job, creating very distinct characters, with the three main roles all being fully fleshed, flawed but likeable. An excellent performance.

After interval, our first play is Noel O’Neill’s A Man’s Best Friend. Noel has written around twenty plays as part of his “Park Bench Series” and this particular vignette has played before at Old Mill Theatre. Betty (Mona Afshar) accuses boyfriend George (Michael Dornan) of loving his dog more than her. A funny little piece, the two actors work well together.

The final play, Choking, by Lis Hoffmann and Lynda Butler, was workshopped and by director Lis Hoffman during the rehearsal process. Set in a hotel, ‘Retreat on the Esplanade’, it follows front desk workers Tim and Paul and the people they encounter. Phil Bedworth’s Paul is in personal crisis, and has a crumbling marriage and a rebellious, angry son Aaron (well captured by Charlie Young). Phil shows us a harrowing emotional journey in a strong performance. Hugh McGuire has fun as campy Tim, whose carefree and dismissive air hides some deep worries, in a very likeable performance. Sharon Menzies brings glamour to Russian actress Natasha, not all she seems. Lis Hoffman and Phil Barnett work well together as a troubled mother and son, with Natalie Louise completing the main cast nicely as Marion. 

A plethora of additional actors feature as hotel guests and have fun creating a Pride Parade.

An interesting and eclectic evening of theatre was a lovely way to open Melville’s new venue, and I hope that they settle happily into their new home.

Kimberley Shaw