- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor
Time to turn off the news, put on your flannel and head out to the Roxy for a light-hearted night at the theatre.
When Canadian playwright Michael Wilmot first wrote A Red Plaid Shirt in 2017, he sent a copy by email to the Owen Sound Little Theatre.While Val Underwood was reading the script, her husband came in to ask why she was laughing so much.
This season, she got her opportunity to direct it on the Roxy stage.
Underwood says the show is a very funny, relatable story of post-retirement adjustments. We won't give anything away, but there IS a Harley in the Roxy lobby.
The Roxy stage has held casts of dozens in singing, dancing musicals, but Underwood says her challenge this time was to have the action fill the space with this small ensemble cast of four. Martin Cooper's set certainly helps – a multi-room home perfectly dressed by Terry Burns.
The show opens in this, the home of recently-retired English teacher Marty, played by the familiar and funny Rick Twining and his “Library Lady” wife, Deb – played by veteran OSLT member Debbie Morris. A simple piece of stage business with a dirty plate lets us know that Marty is not fitting in to Deb's orderly routine.
Their friends Fred and Gladys, played by long-time OSLT funnyman Ben Davidson and Dianne Thompson, a newcomer to our stage, are having their own challenges. While Gladys is energetically looking forward to new creative possibilities, Fred is busy taking his pulse and anticipating his imminent demise.
Spoiler alert. There is a “suck-in-your breath-and-then-let-out-a-guffaw moment” in The Red Plaid Shirt. When you've seen the play and you're recommending it to your friends, don't give it away and spoil that moment for them!
All community theatre is a collaborative affair, and this show brings veterans like producer Kathleen Murphy and lighting director Bill Murphy together with those doing new roles in props, wardrobe and assistant stage-managing. This is the way knowledge gets shared and new skills are built to keep our little theatre healthy.
Don't want to put on your boots? The OSLT has an option for you! Thanks to a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Roxy has acquired some great video equipment which allows them to offer an on-demand production of the play. To be filmed at one of the first performances with a live audience, this "next best thing to being there" production will be available to view from noon on Feb. 19 to midnight on March 6. Tickets for the virtual play are $20 each or $50 for a group viewing.
A Red Plaid Shirt runs from Thursday, February 17 to Saturday, February 19, and again next week Wednesday, February 23 through Saturday, February 26.
Tickets are available at the Roxy box office, for a covid-safe 50% capacity house, with spaces between individuals or groups attending together. Masks are required all the time you are in the building, and proof of vaccination will be checked when you enter.
