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Pam, cocktails, and other amusements

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Mathew Hulshof, Rachel Bowron, Belinda Cornish, Bella King, Oscar Derkx, Cathy Derkach, Kristen Padayas, Shannon Blanchet, Kendra Connor, Andrew MacDonald-Smith, Troy O’Donnell, in Cocktails at Pam’s. Set design Chantel Fortin, lighting design Victor Snaith Hernandez, costume design Leona Brausen. Photography Marc J Chalifoux.

The production of Stewart Lemoine’s Cocktails at Pam’s currently on stage at the Varscona Theatre is the sixth Teatro production of the comedy since its premiere at Fringe 1986.

I’d never seen it before – and it was one of the funniest plays I’d ever seen from that company. Pam (Shannon Blanchet) frequently hosts cocktail parties in her 1967-stylish home, with the support of her husband Julius (Andrew MacDonald-Smith, genial bartender in cream jacket with a great line in quiet snark). Before the guests arrive, we learn that Pam is nervous about the party going well “I hope our little soiree will be a success. Just think of it darling – people drinking, talking to one another” and that she has absolutely no self-awareness.

Their guests include a Stratford-festival actress (Bella King), Pam’s overly-casual younger brother (Oscar Derkx), two couples who are longtime friends (Mathew Hulshof and Rachel Bowron, Troy O’Donnell and Kendra Connor), and another friend (Kristen Padayas) who brings along her own guest, a Divorcee with Issues, Belinda Cornish. Cathy Derkach plays a willing but not very competent maid.

Before the show started, my companion and I enjoyed identifying all the elements in the set design (Chantal Fortin) that reminded us of the heights of sophistication aspired to in our childhood. The curved nesting tables, the ashtray and table lighter, the objets d’art, the sunken living room and decorative glass screen … And when Pam first sweeps into her living room with an extra vase of flowers, she exclaims over the furniture she selected and how pleased she is with it.

In Leona Brausen’s delightful costume design, all the guests arrive dressed in their own version of cocktail-party clothes – except for Pam’s brother, in sweater, chinos, and loafers that he removes to put his feet on the couch. All the women guests wear gloves and carry handbags, impeccably matched to their outfits and shoes. Max and Denise (O’Donnell and Connor) are particularly formal, in tailcoat and fur stole respectively, which they explain by planning to go bowling afterwards. Virgil and Sara (Hulshof and Bowron) are severe and striking in black, he resembling a Vulcan in mufti and she a chess piece. And Padayas’ Lily is completely in orange, from levitating hat to bright-orange pumps.

Mathew Hulshof and Rachel Bowron in Cocktails at Pam’s. Set design Chantel Fortin, lighting design Victor Snaith Hernandez, costume design Leona Brausen. Photography Marc J Chalifoux.

The ill-assorted group argue, complain, break Pam’s rule against party games, flirt, make out on the sofa, and drink a lot of drinks provided by Julius. Other incidents and consequences less predictable also ensue, but spoilers are omitted.

The character portraits reminded me of descriptions in Robertson Davies’ books, particularly the Salterton trilogy. I was especially impressed by the character of Julius and his refreshing lack of misogyny or resentment towards his wife – it would have been easy for the playwright to make that character bitter, and he didn’t. And this fit the general tone of the play. The characters chafed against each other and prodded and complained, but the hostilities were superficial or temporary and the whole thing was just fun to watch, with enough left unresolved at the end to be intriguing.

Program notes point out that all the characters are new to their roles for the 2026 production. I was surprised to learn that Troy O’Donnell, coming straight from playing Leonato in Freewill Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, was a Teatro newbie, since his version of pompous bewilderment was ideal in this role.

Mathew Hulshof, Rachel Bowron, Belinda Cornish, Bella King, Kendra Connor and Troy O’Donnell, in Cocktails at Pam’s. Set design Chantel Fortin, lighting design Victor Snaith Hernandez, costume design Leona Brausen. Photography Marc J Chalifoux.

Before the opening-night performance on Friday, I’d been reminiscing to my companions about the rainy summer of 2016, when my two nieces came to visit me. After they spent their shopping budgets at the West Edmonton Mall, the next day we went to Taste of Edmonton (ate fried pickles and cheesecake, took refuge in the Citadel Lee Pavilion to eat when the skies opened), and then had arranged to meet some of my friends at the then-brand-new Varscona Theatre for Teatro la Quindicina’s Cocktails at Pam’s. We arrived in the lobby and found out that the power was out in the neighbourhood due to the heavy rain. We waited around for a while, and eventually they told us the play wouldn’t go on that night. So my nieces flew back home to Ontario, and I never did see that production.

And then — on Friday the performance start was delayed while the show team took safety precautions against a rapidly-moving storm, the show started, and about fifteen minutes in, the lights went out and the emergency lighting came on. We waited, telling stories of flooding at the Fringe and other weather issues. Someone in the audience shouted “Keep acting!” Andrew MacDonald-Smith called back, “We are! You just can’t see us!” After a short wait, company general manager Cassandra Duval told us that the power wouldn’t come back on until too late to have a performance that night. She said that the reception-food had already arrived, so we should eat some or take some home, and they’d email us to rebook. It was all handled very smoothly, and I was able to attend last night’s performance.

Unless anything else unexpected happens, Cocktails at Pam’s will continue its run until July 26th, with tickets here.

Other entertainment possibilities this week include

  • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Citadel til August 2.
  • The Magpie Collection: A Dance Festival at Mile Zero Dance, includes performances from local and touring artists in a variety of dance/movement genres July 17, 18, 19 and July 24, 25, and 26, as well as drop-in dance classes weekdays and weeknights from 17 different instructors, Jul 13-24. ASL interpretation for all performances and classes. Tickets and schedules here.
  • Edmonton Elks host BC Lions at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday in CFL football. And because it’s the Dog Days of Summer promotion, there’s one seating section where people can bring their dogs (dog tickets are cheaper than people tickets).

“it’s not practice, it’s REHEARSAL”

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There’s a new Trevor Schmidt play, How Patty & Joanne Won High Gold at the Grand Christmas Cup Winter Dance Competition. It’s opening simultaneously at Northern Light Theatre in Edmonton, directed by Schmidt, and at Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary, directed by Bronwyn Steinberg.

I saw the Northern Light production. And it left me a little teary, in a contented, some-things-right-in-the-world way.

Jenny McKillop and Kendra Connor play Patty and Joanne, two students in an Adult Beginner Tap class at the Free Body Dance Station. You will probably recognize both performers from amusing shows with Teatro Live! or Fringe or other local companies, but they’re both new to Northern Light. And they have really great chemistry together – both characters mean well, but they start off awkward, not understanding each other and not comfortable together.

As the play starts, they’ve just gotten the message that their dance teacher, Miss Amber, won’t be back to keep teaching them. And the class, which started out full, has dwindled until – are they the only ones who still want to dance? they aren’t sure. Joanne and Patty take turns narrating the story to the audience and interacting with each other in the studio. Rae McCallum’s lighting design makes it clear to us when there’s a shift. The simple set design (Schmidt) makes clever use of the dance mirrors usually hidden behind curtains in the Fringe Studio Theatre.

Both women are middle-aged and have comfortable-enough secure lives, but we see that each of them is lonely and left out, wanting something more, something just for herself. Patty describes coming home from class to see her husband (Peter) and five children (Parker, Patrick, Petra, Poppy, and Emma) decorating cookies together in the kitchen, and they all run to greet her as she drops her dance bag by the kitchen door – and then immediately disperse to other parts of the house leaving her to do all the dishes. I found that bit one of the most poignant things Schmidt has ever written. And the measurement-for-costumes business was hilarious and relatable.

Joanne talks about how she came to love music and dance and especially musical theatre and movie musicals, with memories of being taken on a special movie outing with her parents, wearing a dark red velvet dress with white lace just like her mother’s. “She was beautiful. And on that day, I was a little bit beautiful.” Throughout the play, Joanne bombards Patty with musical theatre history facts and cultural tidbits. She corrects Patty, a sports parent, saying that for dance “it’s not practice, it’s rehearsal”. Their rehearsal outfits are consistent with their different backgrounds/expectations (costumes by Logan Stefura). Joanne is wearing a ballet-pink leotard and tights under a wrap skirt and cut-off CATS t-shirt, while Patty’s outfit includes cutoff grey sweatpants and a football jersey.

In the first scene they rehearse the tap routine that Miss Amber had been teaching them, to “All the Single Ladies”. (Apparently the women in the class would have been dressed as reindeer, with the man as Santa.) The moves are familiar to anyone who’s watched beginner tap classes. They aren’t very good. They keep running that routine periodically as the story progresses, and they get more in sync. Then they change to a piece better suited to entering “musical theatre duet” instead of the “adult group tap” competition class – Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You”. Their performance gradually improves, and their homemade costumes are both credible and fairytale-delightful. Jason Hardwick’s choreography works well to make the easy moves look hard and then have the dancers gradually master them. The soundscape (Lindsay Walker) evokes tap-dance performances and pop-music fun, right from the pre-show selections.

Like many of Trevor Schmidt’s scripts, I started out amused and then became engaged with the likeable but very distinct characters and their situation, realizing afterwards in conversation with my theatregoing companions that there were also some profound messages in the narrative. About the difficulty and awkwardness and necessity of making new friends in mid-life. About wanting “something just for me.” About how anything worth doing is worth doing badly. All of which are good reminders, especially before Christmas.

Running time is about an hour, with no intermission – which is just right for this quiet delightful two-hander.

Tickets to How Patty and Joanne Won High Gold at the Grand Christmas Cup Winter Dance Competition are available here. Performances run until Saturday December 13th. If you’re in Calgary, or if you loved this script so much that you want to road trip, the Lunchbox Theatre production runs at the Vertigo Theatre in Calgary until December 18th.

Mary Poppins

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The first of P.L. Travers’ books about Mary Poppins was published in 1934, and I read some of the books as a child, taking them out from a particular old library branch that my father used to like.  The Walt Disney movie came out in 1965, so I know I didn’t see it then, but I probably saw it at a drive-in theatre in one of the early re-releases, and I think I’ve also seen it as an adult but not recently.   I don’t know which I encountered first, but I don’t remember being bothered by any inconsistencies in the treatments.

I saw an early preview performance of the Citadel Theatre / Theatre Calgary production of the Broadway musical Mary Poppins last week.  Blythe Wilson was in the title role with an appropriate combination of dignity and warmth, and Michael Shamata was the director.  It was a fun large-cast show with a lot of music and with fun things to watch (dancing, kite-flying, various stage-effect magics, and enchanting sets capturing the house and neighbourhood in Edwardian London), so I think it would be a better family outing than Christmas Carol, which is a little scary.  Young performers Zasha Rabie and Jack Forestier were poised and convincing in the roles of Mary Poppins’ charges Jane and Michael Banks.  Kate Ryan and Vincent Gale were the Banks adults whom Mary Poppins also helps to find more balanced happier lives.  Kendra Connor, a local actor who has been a favourite of mine in shows such as Fiorello!, Strike! The Musical, Nutcracker Unhinged, and The Minor Keys, was very funny in several small parts.

Because I’m preoccupied these days with learning the work of stage management, working as ASM on the upcoming Walterdale Theatre production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, (opens April 2nd, tickets here) I was completely in awe watching the smooth movement of complicated multi-level set pieces, some on a revolve.  Mary Poppins’ dignified descents and ascensions by umbrella had her in a completely upright immobile posture, which also impressed me.  In the early preview I saw, I think I saw one small delay probably due to a slow costume change and one wobble in the stage-magic, but they did not distract me from enjoying the show.

The underlying messages about valuing family life and personal happiness are just as timely today as when the books were written, and the story made me happy.

Mary Poppins continues to play at the Citadel until April 20th, but I hear that some performances are selling out.