Screwball Comedy at Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake

Jeff Green | Nov 23, 2023

Review

The North Frontenac Little Theatre is continuing to settle into their permanent location at the municipal hall in Sharbot Lake.

Their latest production of the Norm Foster throwback to a subgenre of the romantic comedy films that became popular in the 1930s and 40s.

They were called “Screwball Comedies” in reference to the screwball, a pitch in baseball that breaks the opposite way than expected by the batter. The screwball element in the comedies is that the two characters at the centre of the love story in the production, do not get along at first. And it is the, often younger, woman who is the dominant character at first, posing a threat to the masculinity of the man in question.

“Screwball Comedy” was written as a throwback to those days, and the language is a lot more explicit than it was back then, and the sexism that is inherent in much of the dialogue is played for laughs, even more so now than back then as well.

In this production, two actors from the metropolis of Henderson took on the odd couple roles. NFLT veteran Tim White played Jeff Kincaid, a jaded star reporter with the Chronicle.  He is assigned with a young woman trying to break into the business, Mary Hays, played by GREC student Sarah Deline. From the start, the script demands an aggressive, playful interaction between the two leads, in spite of their age difference, and Deline and White certainly delivered. One of the many impressive aspects of Deline's performance was how present she was on stage throughout, which is something that is rare for a first time actor.

The plot in the play is hopelessly derivative, which is part of the fun. Hays and Kincaid are sent off to the house of the newspaper’s owner, by the hard bitten editor “Boss Lady” (Karen Steele - who also directed) and the owner of the paper, Dolores Diddle (Beth Freeland) tells them to break up her son's romance by digging up dirt on his fiancee Gloria Fontana (Carrie Bell).

Delores Diddle's own fiancee Peter Terwilliger (Art Holloway) adds to mayhem, while the butler Reginald (John Stephen) ushers characters in and out of the house while nursing his own grudge against the world.

It is not so much the plot that drives “Screwball Comedy” as it is the playful performances of the actors, and the actors in this production had a lot of fun making that happen, much to the delight of the audience. The tone was set by the performances of Deline and White, with Beth Freeland revelling in the the role of Deleros Diddle, a woman who has seen it all and done it all and is not shy about sharing. Art Holloway, who has been a behind the scenes stalwart for the little theatre, was drawn to the stage this time as the oily Terwilliger, made the most of the opportunity, inhabiting the role with relish, yellow pants and all. Carrie Bell, who actually had two roles, as the Boss Lady's Girl Friday and Gloria Fontana, also made an impressive debut on the stage as the very suspicious fiancee of Dolores Diddle's son Chauncey, played by Mason Moore. Although still young, Moore is now an NFLT veteran, and he brought wit and awareness to the role of Chauncey.

In the show program, it says that John Stephen was “born to play Reginald,” but to be fair, the same can be said of at least a half dozen other roles he has played over the years with NFLT. But “Reginald” could be his ultimate role. Totally aware, but unconcerned, about the motivations of all the other characters, Stephen's Reginald's every slow step, and every satirical, bitter comment, commanded the full attention of the audience. As soon as  he walked on stage for the first time, some in the audience started laughing, knowing that 'the butler was in the house'.

Karen Steele was aided by assistant director Hope Andrew, who was also the assistant stage manager under Stage Manager Linda Bush, and Angela Cowdy did costumes. A special mention to Joelle Parr for the prompting.

Screwball Comedy also marked the return of dinner theatre for NFLT, which was a sell-out. The company is planning to go big in the little space come the spring of '24, with a planned production of Oliver, which will be the third Oliver in the 45-year history of the company. Auditions are upcoming in December.