Written by Vic Hyde
Directed by Michelle Spanik
Produced by Michael Hannigan
Annual Children’s Show – A lighthearted take on a children’s classic tale.
Production Dates: November 22-24, 28-30 2013
Category: Previous Shows
Old Love
A comedy by Norm Foster
A rollicking comedy about romance and getting older
Meet Bud, a hardworking salesman who encounters his boss’s wife, Molly, at a company party and he’s hopelessly smitten. Molly? Not so much. And she’s not for trifling, with her droll, dry wit. You are in for a romp that takes you through three decades in the lives of our two romantics, all in the matter of a couple of fall-about laughing hours. Forget the boy-meets-girl stuff. Bud and Molly are old enough to know better and they do – almost.
Production Dates: September 20-21, 26-28 October 3-5 2013
Suddenly Last Summer
A drama by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Tom Mackan
Produced by Michelle Spanik
Designed by Dani Podetz
Aging Louisiana aristocrat, Violet Venables, plots to silence her traumatized niece Catharine Holly from sullying the family’s honour with her mad tale of the death of cousin Sebastian.
Theatre Burlington’s history of success in Festival-quality plays is lengthy and this enduring tragic drama from Williams’ rich mine of writing will be no exception. As with everything he writes, the truth of the human condition, its troubled relationships, is explored with Williams’ unforgiving honesty and, of course, his famous observant wit. Characters come to brilliant reality and remain lasting in our memories. Performances soar, the stage takes on a life of its own as the aging Louisiana aristocrat, Violet Venables, plots to silence her traumatized niece Catharine Holly from sullying the family’s honour with her mad tale of the death of cousin Sebastian.
It is from this play that the memorable 1959 film, starring Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Montgomery Clift was adapted.
“This short, passionate, intense play combines realism and fantasy, offers suspense and deadly conflict, and contains some of the playwright’s most lyrical dialogue.”
– Theatre Reviews: Drama-logue
Wrong for each other
A comedy by Norm Foster
Directed by Tom Mackan
Produced by Peter Malysewich
Widely praised, this terrific play comes with all of life’s reality enough to keep audiences totally involved, laughing and deeply moved at the same time. When Foster gets his genius working on a relationship between a man and woman, the exploration grabs us and keeps us fully engaged. Rudy and Norah meet quite accidentally after over three years of divorce and they set off on a memory trip of discovery that is classic in its telling. This is a near masterpiece of writing with dialogue astounding in its understanding of people and how they cope. And don’t forget, ever so funny and moving for all that.
“Positively sparkles with wit and entertainment from start to finish.”
– North Shore Times, Australia
“Foster’s deceptively simple comedy echoes with a haunting resonance long after the laughter has faded away.”
– Montreal Suburban
Production Dates: September 21-22, 27-29 October 4-6 2012
Midnight Madness
A comedy by Dave Carley
Directed by Al French
Produced by Sondra Learn
A romantic comedy, the kinder, gentler cousin of the mainstream stuff. Here’s a comedy to warm your laugh centre, the way a glass of good wine lifts your mood. It’s just minutes before midnight at Bloom’s Furniture sale. The salesman Wesley is closing the store for last time. When Anna Bregner arrives she has no idea that the lonely salesman is a former classmate. But Wesley remembers her all too well – he has kept tabs on all his former classmates. Anna has returned to this town to start a new career, which coincides with the end of Wesley’s.
Production Dates: April 13-14, 19-21, 26-28 2012
The Imaginary Invalid
A comedy by Moliere, adapted by Miles Malleson
Directed by Tom Mackan
Produced by Michelle Spanik
Uproarious farce!
Moliere took the starch out of all the foolish phonies of his day and here he hits the medical quacks, their sidekicks and the fake invalids they prey upon. An adaptation in the best tradition of the British farce, every character aims to use poor Argan and his imaginary illnesses for their own benefit. He’s the master of his household, he thinks. But not to his perky and saucy servant Toinette, however, who delights in her impertinence. His daughter Angelique is hopelessly in love with the handsome Cleante but Argan has a greater plan for her, to marry her to his doctor’s son and gain a doctor from the deal. But resourceful Toinette inserts herself into a plot to foil her master. Everybody conspires to take advantage of him. But he has schemes of his own and the comedy becomes side-splitting. The laughs pile up until the incredible finale when the imaginary invalid gets the reward he deserves!
February 3-5*, 10-12*, 16-18 2012
*matinee 2:00 pm
Rumpelstiltskin
By Vic Hyde and Terri Little
Directed by Tamara Kamermans
Produced by Chuck Learn
Stage Managed by John Durbin
Annual Children’s Show – It’s a classic story come to life!
Production Dates: November 25-27 and December 1-3 2011
You Can’t Dance to Mozart
A comedy by John F. Green
Directed by Sondra Learn
Produced by Chuck Learn
What’s funny about “retired” and “pensioner”?
You’ll find out to your delight when you see this production by Oshawa writer, John F. Green. When the landlord raises the rent on pensioner Barney Walden’s apartment one time too many, Barney takes matters into his own hands – he stops paying the rent. Threatened with eviction he recruits his new love Kate, a retired school teacher from upstairs into an elaborate real estate scheme designed to bring the landlord to his knees. As the situation becomes more and more hilarious, and buddies Max and Boris become involved, and so too does Kate’s estranged daughter, Susan, and the scheme backfires, the chaos that follows will have you rolling in the aisles.
“Highest grossing play in seven years”, reports Class Act Dinner Theatre in Whitby.
From The Grand Prairie Alberta Encore, “..delivers laughs and current-events realism!”
Production Dates: September 16-17, 22-24, 29-30 October 1 2011
The Miracle Worker
By William Gibson
Directed by Sondra Learn
Produced by Chuck Learn
Who can forget the huge way we were involved as audiences in the 1960s story of Annie Sullivan and the child Helen Keller, together forging an inspiring story of trial and success in 19th century America. A Burlington production with area talent is long overdue, and audiences will be fully rewarded by this immensely challenging play. A must see for the season, to be sure!
Production Dates: April 15-16, 21-23, 28-30 2011
Chapter Two
By Neil Simon
Directed by Tom Mackan
Produced by Jan & John Durbin
When Neil Simon writes about a guy trying to help another guy solve a romantic crisis we’re sure to be in for a couple of hours of huge laughs. Simon knows his marital and romantic roadmaps and never misses the right twist or turn to keep us completely involved and always en route to hilarity. This play is one of his best.
George, a recent widower and a writer, can’t get out of his depression. Bring on his younger brother Leo with plans to get him dating again. Predictably there is a series of bad matches and the fun begins. But Leo comes up with Jennie who looks like a keeper, and this pair of not so young lovers set out on a bumpy road to happiness-ever-after, but not without the comedy that Simon can so dependably provide. Laugh after laugh will keep us rolling along. Add a neurotic friend of Jenny to mix it up with Leo and the merriment is irrepressible.
“A sure smash!”
– Variety
“Lovely, whimsical, and touching and always funny .. most of the time downright hilarious.”
– New York Post
Production Dates: February 4-5, 10-13*, 17-19 2011
*matinee 2:00 pm