A Rum for the Money Three Newfoundlanders are on a rum running mission in the middle of the night. They successfully dodge French bullets and evade RCMP cutters, but are hit and broken apart by a mystery ship, leading to an eerie night of survival.
Neptune Studio Theatre, 1593 Argyle, Thu May 7, 7pm, Sat May 9, 7pm, Sun May 10, 1pm and
7pm, $20/$15, 429-7070
He’d Be Your Father’s Mother’s Cousin Mary-Colin Chisholm performs all the characters from her popular radio serial, bringing to life the zany, down-home family through gossip, cats, ghosts, biscuits, gomachs, bochdans and old wives tales. Neptune Studio Theatre, 1593 Argyle, Thu May 7, 9pm, Fri May 8, 9pm, Sat May 9, 3pm, Sun May 10, 5pm, $20/$15, 429-7070
Jake’s Gift An award-winning comedy/drama that tells the story of a cantankerous 80-year-old WWII veteran who reluctantly returns to Juno Beach for the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Neptune Studio Theatre, 1593 Argyle, Wed May 13, 7pm, Sat May 16, 7pm, Sun May 17, 5pm, $20/$15, 429-7070
Out of Frame Out of Frame documents the sad trajectory of specialist Joseph Dwyer’s life after coming home from the war in Iraq and the consequences of falling in, and out, of frame. Neptune Studio Theatre, 1593 Argyle, Wed May 13, 8:30pm, Thu May 14, 8:30pm, Fri May 15, 8:30pm, Sun May 17, 7pm, $20/$15, 429-7070
Trudeau Stories In 1985, Brooke Johnson studied acting at the National Theatre School in Montreal and became friends with Pierre Elliott Trudeau. In Trudeau Stories, Brooke brings to life the story of a remarkable friendship. Neptune Studio Theatre, 1593 Argyle, Fri May 8, 7pm, Sat May 9, 9pm, Sun May 10, 3pm, $20/$15, 429-7070
This article appears in May 7-13, 2009.
He’d Be Your Father’s Mother’s Cousin Review
Cape Breton lite. That’s how Mary-Colin Chisholm describes the culture and characters from Antigonish in her introduction to her one-woman show He’d Be You Father’s Mother’s Cousin. (Well, it’s actually a one-woman, one fiddler, and one “adequate” foley artist show.) In the show, Chisholm channels a tart-tongued gramma, a slightly catty and very chatty mother, and a taciturn father who’s overwhelmed by the histrionics of the women he lives with, as well as cast of minor characters. Various vignettes are painted in great detail—everything from some suitably corny ghost stories to a misunderstanding that almost has the authorities descending on the family for grandmother-abuse. The fiddle sets by Mairi Rankin and the creatively rendered sound effects by Christian Murray add a lot to the down-home charm. This show is as homey as a cup of tea with canned milk and as funny as a one-armed juggler. –Kate Watson
A Rum for the Money Review
In the 1960’s, enterprising adventurers from Newfoundland were able to make a great deal of money by smuggling rum from the nearby island of St-Pierre-Miquelon. It was dangerous work, as shown in Berni Stapleton’s A Rum for the Money, where three smugglers, of various degrees of experience, are shot at, chased and eventually rammed in the course of one fateful run. The play is both suspenseful and funny and the acting is first-rate. But the bare-bones set—a small dory lashed with kegs—and the awkward set change leave something to be desired, as does the script which stretches credibility to the breaking point with a ride on a whale’s tale. Still, you won’t regret spending an evening with this trio of warm-hearted rogues. – Kate Watson
Trudeau Stories Review
Brooke Johnson is a magician of sorts, for she manages to conjure Pierre Elliott Trudeau out of thin air. She tells her real-life experience of being befriended by the former prime minister while still a student at the National Theatre School. She wrote the piece as a way to come to terms with his death and with the fact that she had allowed their friendship to dim in the years before it. The details are impressive, and Johnson slips easily between her younger self, her older self and Trudeau and his famous mannerisms. It is a story that will appeal specifically to anyone who lived through the Trudeau years, but also more generally to anyone who has experienced the loss of someone dear to them. – Kate Watson