To mark their 10th anniversary, the Royal Canadian Theatre Company is putting on a spoof reminiscent of the old Hollywood dark house movies from the 1930s and ’40s.
“It’s suitable for the family. It’s funny, not laugh-a-minute funny, but it’s funny,” director Ellie King said of her latest production, It Was A Dark and Stormy Night, written by Tim Kelly.
“I’ve got all of
the old Hollywood elements in it. It was a dark and stormy night. It’s an old inn on the coast of Massachusetts in New England, which is noted for being odd. And it’s got some strange people there,” said King.
When a storm hits the town, strangers are forced to spend a night at the Ye Olde Wayside Inn, where they meet its eccentric residents, the Saltmarsh family.
The Saltmarshs include Hepzibah, played by Steve Weller, her sister Arabella, played by Jacqueline Becher, their evil cousin Ebenezer, played by Michael Charrois.
A strange servant Olive, played by Jennifer Lane, and decrepit Uncle Silas, the oldest living lunatic in town, are the eccentrics.
The inn is also haunted by the ghost of a soldier who deserted Washington at Valley Forge.
The play was first published in 1988 and won the Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence.
It is a comedic horror mystery.
“I promised that I would do nothing but comedies for the next three years,” explained King, who said she has received this message loud and clear from her patrons.
“The world is kind of ge
tting to people and so they just want to laugh. And they want as easy a laugh as possible. They don’t particularly want messages or anything deep or relevant.”
King, who has brought the hit productions No Sex Please, We’re British and the recent Love, Sex and the IRS to the ACT in Maple Ridge, first directed the current play in 2001.
This time, she cast Weller to play the female cousin Hepzibah. He plays off of Becher as a manic Scotswomen living in deadly fear of their murderous cousin Ebenezer.
“It’s been produced many times,” King said of the play.
“But I don’t know how many times they’ve had the cousins, Hepzibah and Arabella, being Scottish and one of them being played by a man,” laughed King, who said the chemistry was like magic between the two actors.
“It was kind of like a marriage made in heaven. During auditions, they were so funny together,” said King.
Evelyn Clarke of Maple Ridge plays one of the young nurses forced to stay at the inn and says the play is a creative collaboration by the whole cast.
“Ellie’s great that way. She definitely wants her artists to have input to what’s going on.”
Clarke was drawn to the play after reading the script.
“It’s very satirical and there’s a lot of different references to old movies and things like that. And I’m a big old movie buff,” adding there will also be great visual effects.
“Mostly of the thunder, lightning and smoke variety, and a creepy old house and some great 1950s costumes that definitely create an atmosphere,” she said.
What’s on
It Was A Dark And Stormy Night is coming to the ACT, 11944 Haney Place in Maple Ridge at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 and 29 with a matinee at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 29.
For more information or tickets, call 604-476-2787 or go to http://www.rctheatreco.com or to http://www.theactmapleridge.org/.