Drinking Alone

The Theatre Arts Guild production of Drinking Alone is the happy marriage of a well-written play performed by a well-chosen cast. Despite being the story of a deeply dysfunctional family shattered by alcoholism, Norm Foster has created a comedy rather than a tragedy. The humour is driven by Jody MacArthur’s charming performance as Renee Duchene, an escort hired to impersonate a lonely loser’s fiancée. Her face is an open book, and her unsuccessful struggles to keep the requisite lies simple play out across it. Ivan Todd is terrific as the father who drops into his adult children’s lives after a fifteen- year absence. He brings depth to a character that could have remained simply unlikeable. Add to that Cynthia Myers as the fierce and fragile daughter, Kyle Gillis as the complicated loser and Shirley Dixon as the open-hearted step-mother and you have five fine performances that make for a must-see play.---Kate Watson