Rabbits and Blueberries by Ken Jessome is billed as a “dark comic drama” that takes “a hilarious but searching look at Cape Breton identity today”, and for the first act, it seems like it might deliver.
The bantering between Billy (Todd Hiscock), an out-of-work ne’er-do-well, and Francis (Nick Sobol) a struggling bar owner, manages to be very funny while illuminating many small-town problems. Too bad the story stalls there.
Basically, the rest of the play is reminiscent of an after-school-special on the dangers of trafficking in narcotics. Even this could have made for interesting drama if the playwright had been able to move from telling to showing. As it is, Rabbits and Blueberries is just two men, talking endlessly in a bar.
Rabbits and Blueberries plays on May 12 at 7 pm and May 13 at 9 pm at the Alderney Landing Theatre, 2 Ochterloney St, Dartmouth. 1-888-311-9090
This article appears in May 10-16, 2007.