Back in July I was contacted by my old business contact and friend Emily Oriold about their upcoming World Premiere of Norm Foster's play "Whit's End", now onstage until August 4th at the Mandeville Theatre on the grounds of Ridley College.
She wanted to know if I, as a now-retired employee of Canada Post, could scare up an old letter-carrier satchel for the play? They just needed it as a prop as the central character, Whit, played by Peter Krantz, has just retired as a Canada Post letter carrier. I pulled some strings (not hard to do with all the good friends and contacts I still have down at the depot) and voila! I produced a suitably battered satchel for the show.
Emily offered me tickets to the show as thanks and I was happy to take her up on the offer. I have slowly begun getting back to my pre-pandemic arts participation but sadly, the Foster Festival has not seen me back yet post-pandemic, and I must say I am all the poorer for it. Might just have to change that in the future...
I knew going in there would be some similarities between me and Peter's character, as I too, delivered the mail for awhile using the exact same satchel as featured in the show. Seeing it in the trunk of my car again as I picked it up from the depot made me smile and brought back plenty of memories of walking the routes as long as I did.
But the character of Whit is also widowed, as I am now, but unlike me he has found love again in the form of Nikki, played by Melanie Janzen. Lucky him, although the play deals with the many complications of introducing the new love of your life to the children of your old love of your life, and that fortunately will not be an issue for me. As Sophie and I met late in life as it was and neither had married previously to meeting, there are no children involved should I ever face that next chapter in my life.
As for Whit, what seems like a pretty simple exercise turns out to be anything but. He has retired, met a new love, they are moving in together, and moving to a new city and indeed province, and that is a lot for his two grown children to take in when they both visit for "the big announcement". As is often the case in these situations, Nikki can't believe Whit hasn't even told the kids about her yet, but then, such is the great divide between men and women it seems.
Well, one of many, actually...
The play has Norm Foster's trademark humour to soften the blow of the more serious nature of the subject matter running as an undercurrent throughout the play, although I have heard Foster's wit in somewhat sharper focus in earlier productions. But still, he remains a master of showing a mirror up to ourselves and making us laugh at ourselves in the process.
The cast is uniformly strong here, with Krantz as mentioned in the title role of Whit being suitably gruff and a little rough around the edges. Melanie Janzen as Nikki is all bubbly and the perfect foil for Krantz's gruffness, but she possesses a lot of knowledge that oftentimes seems lost on her new love.
The two kids, David Rowan as Steven and Caroline Toal as Erica, flesh out this foursome with good, solid performances and just the right amount of "concern" for their father and just how his life is about to change.
The set is simple yet stylish, and director Jamie Williams sets a fine pace for the actors from the get-go.
All in all, an afternoon well-spent with like-minded souls in search of a few laughs on yet another hot summer's day. Whit's End rates a strong three out of four stars.
The final performance is tomorrow afternoon at 2, so go to www.fosterfestival.com for tickets and more information.
Enjoy your weekend!
August 3rd, 2024.
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