Live and in person at the Mandeville Theatre, Ridley College, St. Catharines, Ont. Part of the Foster Festival. Playing until Aug. 4, 2024.
Written by Norm Foster
Directed by Jamie Williams
Set by Beckie Morris
Lighting by Alex Sykes
Costumes by Alex Amini
Cast: Melanie Janzen
Peter Krantz
David Rowan
Caroline Toal
Norm Foster writes plays about people and situations to which we can all relate, and they are very funny. His plays are full of characters with foibles, insecurities, strange notions, kindness, and humour. Bravo to Emily Oriold, the founder and Artistic Director of the Foster Festival for programming plays that show us characters and situations we can all recognize.
Whit (Peter Krantz) has summoned his two adult children, Steven (David Rowan) and Erica (Caroline Toal) to fly from Montreal, where they live, to visit him in Calgary where he lives. He’s paid for the airfare. He hasn’t told them his reason. Whit has been living with his girlfriend Nikki (Melanie Janzen) for 13 months and they plan to move to Kelowna BC. After he retires as a mailperson, which is imminent. The children have no idea about any of this.
When Erica and Steven arrive, Erica imagines that Whit is sick and won’t be told otherwise. When they are told the information in bits and pieces the children, especially Erica, do not take the information well. She thinks that Nikki is the housekeeper her father has employed to take care of the house. Nikki in fact is a fiduciary. It’s a running gag of the play that Erica can’t remember what Nikki does and consistently mispronounces the word or confuses it with other words.
It’s obvious that Whit has considered Steven the more stable and successful child. He is a pharmaceutical rep. He has had a string of accomplished girlfriends. Erica is not as successful in her father’s eyes and her boyfriends have all been losers. So when both children tell Whit of their new partners Whit has thoughts on each.
Whit’s End is Norm Foster’s latest play and a world premiere. I’ve enjoyed Foster’s plays over the years for their wisdom about human nature, character flaws and truths about family situations. But I can’t help but feel that Whit’s End is a slight play of repeated jokes that get weaker with each repeat. Nikki uses vintage television shows as references to Whit, in spite of Whit telling her repeatedly he never watched television growing up because his father didn’t want a tv in the house. And yet she continues to use various television references, the point of which eludes Whit. Erica is convinced that Whit is sick in spite of Whit telling her more and more forcefully he is fine. It does wear thin quickly. At two hours the play feels padded. It should be revised and tightened to a brisk 90 minutes with no intermission.
The Foster Festival presents:
Plays until Aug. 4, 2024.
Running time: 2 hours (1 intermission)