Halfway Home by NFLT - Review - AGm Upcoming
North Frontenac Little Theatre's (NFLT) production of the Norm Foster play, Halfway Home, completed a successful four day run at the Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake last weekend.
After a smaller crowd attended opening night on April 23, there were full houses on Friday and Saturrday evening, and a good crowd for the Sunday matinee that was the final performance of the play.
The play was well suited to the limited stage available at the hall, as all the action takes place in one set, Junior's Cafe in Stewiake, Nova Scotia. The set, designed and built by Cheryl Matson, Brian Robertson and Gord Sirrs, was both cozy and spacious enough to create two distinct locations, a booth for customers to sit around, and counter space. There were enough touches of Nova Scotial to make it work, including a clever use of changes to the menu board to mark the passage of time, with items such as lobster rolls helping the audience along.
Like most Norm Foster plays, this one is about relationships between people in the 30-60 year old age range, and sex is never that far beneath the surface, with themes of the enduring power of friendship and community connection emerging at the end.
The play centres around four women, a bit of a departure compared to other Foster plays NFLT has produced over they years. Three of them are regular customers, Mary Ellen, played by Angela Cowdy, Vi, played by Lynne Herr, and Rita, played by Karen Steele. The fourth is the waitress at the Cafe, Janine, who is both a part of the friend group, and the female romantic lead.
The caralyst for much of the action in the play is the arrival of Sean, a doctor in town for a 17 day locum placement. Sean sees Janine as he walks into the cafe upon arriving in town, He sees Janine, Janine sees him, and the other three see them seeing each other, and the main plot is set in motion.
One unusual aspect of this production was the dual casting. For two of the performances, Sean was played by Tankut Alp Ertek, and Janine by Daelin Verkindt, and for the other two, Sean was played by Ryan Michie and Janine by Richelle Lessard.
Halfway Home provides enough space for all of the characters to have their own story to tell, and the Lynne Herr, Angie Cowdy and Karen Steele inhabited their characters exceedingly well, not only in the way they delivered their lines, but in their bearing and movement. Lynne Herr who was the rookie actor among the three, seems to come into her own as the opening night performance unfolded. Vi is the most settled of the three women, in many ways, and by the time she has to deal with adversity, Lynne Herr has established her presence to the audience was drawn into her situation. As May Ellen, Angie Cowdy did a great job of transforming sad May Ellen of Act One, to invigorated Mary Ellen of Act 3, all due a change in her love life at home. She did it throught the pace of her delivery and her movement. Karen Steele, always a stong actor for the NFLT, revelled in to role of Rita, the sexual adventurer, who laments at one point that “I haven't had any sex since ... last night”. Steele was also easily able to bring out the more subtle sadness of Rita, in some moving conversations with her friends later in the play.
The night that I saw the play, Tankut Ertech and Daelin Verkidt played Sean and Janine. Tankut played the character with elegance and some reserve. He comes to town after a painful break up, and while he is immediately attracted to Janine, he is reluctant to act on it, at least at first, and is confused by Rita's advances to him.
Daelin Verkidt, provided the most Nova Scotia specific portrayal of any of the actors in this production to Janine. When she was being sweet, there was always a hint of irony, and she was being cutting or sarcastic, there was always a hint of kindness.
The interplay between them, and Janine's relationship with the other three women, progressed and deepened as the play went on. They both did well.
While I was not able to see Ryan Michie and Richelle Lessard as Sean and Rita, people who saw the performances raved about the performances
Since it was opening night, the actors were still working out their lines some of the time, but that was not a problem from an audience point of view, and was less an issue in later performances, I have heard from people who were there that it was very strong, and very different. Ryan Michie, consitent with other NFLT performances from him, played Sean as more of a flirt, not only with Janine but with Rita and, with the audience as well. Richelle Lessard leaned into Janine's past in fashion around the world. With Michie being more forward as Sean, she was more refined, reserved even.
From all accounts, the experiment of having two sets of leads, alternating throgh the run, was a success, resulting in different experiences for the audiences.
A final note Joelle Parr had a recurring cameo role, from the audience, as a thief, adding an extra bit of humour to the production
Upcoming - North Frontenac Little Theatre Annual General Meeting Sunde3ay May 12 High Noon - Featuring a special award presentation - all welcome
