- by Anne Finlay-Stewart

A Red Plaid Shirt opened last night for a limited run at the Bruce County Playhouse in Southampton.
If you're retired, know someone who is retired, or ever hope to be retired, you'll get the giggles from this lively comedy by Canadian playwright Michael G. Wilmot.

Matt Evans, well known from his Owen Sound Little Theatre performances, plays retired accountant, Fred Baxter. Fred wears safety goggles when he plays ping pong because he happens to have "unusually large eye sockets and a flying ping pong ball could lodge right in there.” And that is the least of his many worries.

His best friend Marty, played by Kevin Haxel, is a high school English teacher who is new to retirement and feels “too good to be a pensioner. Had I known I’d feel so good at this time of life, I would have aged a lot sooner, I think I wasted too much time being young.” He's looking for something to get his blood “surging” - a search he has to negotiate with his wife. Did you know the average Harley customer is a married man in his 50s? Just sayin'.

The Bruce County Playhouse runs professional theatre in the summer, and this is their first time bringing great local community theatre talent to the Southampton Town Hall stage.

Shows run tonight through Saturday, including a Saturday matinee, and February 20 and 21.

Wear a red plaid shirt to the performance and you'll be able to enter a draw for two tickets to the opening night gala of one of the summer performances – Real Estate – a comedy; Bingo Ladies: The Musical; or Norm Foster's On a First Name Basis.

More information about Bruce County Playhouse here.