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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).

The festival fusion of Freewill (Shakespeare) and Fringe

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Normally the Freewill Shakespeare Festival happens at the end of June, beginning of July, with two of Shakespeare’s plays running in repertory at the big amphitheatre in Hawrelak Park. Big crowds enjoying beer and popcorn, squirrels and thunderstorms, along with a professional company of about 12 actors performing in both shows. That wasn’t a good plan for 2021, so the festival pushed back to August and scaled back to two separate cohorts, doing small cast versions suitable for touring to community league spaces and large backyards. Macbeth is coming to my own community league in Ritchie Park on Saturday August 28th, at 2pm, for pay what you Will, for example.

Both of this year’s productions, directed by festival AD David Horak, started with previews outdoors at Louise McKinney Waterfront Park, and are now joining the Edmonton Fringe Festival for performances this week in a convenient overlap of two traditions.

Much Ado About Nothing is being performed in the tent in Light Horse Park known as Vanta Youth Stage. The cast of five (Troy O’Donnell, Ian Leung, Sarah Feutl, Christina Nguyen, and Fatmi El Fassri El Fihri) runs through a fairly traditional adaptation of the romcom in a bit under 75 minutes – traditional except for having the five of them play all the roles. So, for example, Sarah Feutl is great as the quickwitted loyal Beatrice taking pleasure in banter with her cousin Hero and with Benedick, but she also plays Claudio (Hero’s love interest) and the old Sexton taking down the criminal charges. There was also a framing of the five actors arriving at a tour destination under Covid precautions, cut down from a company of 15 for an unexplained reason, and deciding which play to perform. A few times through the performance the actors reminded us of this layer, making the character-shifts amusing rather than clumsy. The funniest shift was when O’Donnell-as-Leonato-the-accuser was confronting O’Donnell-as-Borachio-the-accused, eventually frog-marching himself away.

I saw Macbeth in the preview, but at the Fringe it’s playing in the air-conditioned space known as Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre, just north of the streetcar tracks and new crosswalk on Gateway Drive. It’s a less conventional adaptation, using just three actors (Nadien Chu, Rochelle Laplante, and Laura Raboud), skipping over many of the details in favour of exposition (with a bit of editorial) delivered by one or another. It sticks to the Shakespearean text for most of the familiar scenes and monologues, but adds in some ukelele-accompanied songs at some of the most brutal moments (Banquo’s murder, Lady Macduff’s murder) for a bizarre touch. Raboud is disturbingly good in the title role. Laplante plays Lady Macbeth and Malcolm among others; Chu covers King Duncan, Banquo, Macduff, etc.

Before the narrative started, the three performers occupy themselves in bouffon fashion, picking out a new leader from the audience, affirming the choice, then chorusing that their time’s up, nothing personal, but your leadership has come to an end, and then moving on to another selection. This was entertaining at the time and seemed to lead in to the action at the start of the play with Duncan being replaced by Macbeth and then being tormented by the idea of not being able to pass on the crown to his child.

At the end, the young Malcolm is crowned King of Scotland. The bouffon voice appears again reciting something about the cycle continuing. Suddenly I realized that in my whole long acquaintance with this play, since studying it in Grade 12, seeing two Stratford productions while living in Ontario, and more recently productions of Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Theatre Prospero/Thousand Faces Festival, Akpik Theatre’s Pawâkan Macbeth, and The Malachites, I have always thought of the end of the play as getting back to normal, a sigh of relief for the rightful ruler on the throne and an assumption that the new regime will be wise, kind, and stable, a time to shudder and shake myself for the end of the nightmare brought about by two people’s ambition. It had honestly never occurred to me that I don’t know nearly enough about Malcolm and his advisors to assume a happily-ever-after. Just as when a self-serving government has been voted out or overthrown, or when public-health measures and community co-operation are getting a pandemic wave under control, we cannot congratulate ourselves and walk away.

And maybe I’m not the only one who needs to hear that.