If you have a mother, especially a loud, brash, opinionated mother, then you will love New West Theatre’s new
production of Michel Tremblay’s “For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again,” which premiered at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre, Sept. 30 for a sold out crowd.
The two actors, Marek Czuma and Karen Johnson-Diamond, making her New West Theatre debut, bond throughout the play, the more they talk , just as if they were mother and son, crack each other up on occasion while making the audience identify and sympathize with them.
The comedy of the play centres around Nana’s exaggerations as Nana quickly turns the ice throwing incident into a lifetime in prison, reform school and two dead family members, not to mention Aunt Gertrude being completely pulled through an old fashioned clothing wringer.
Her son has trouble maintaining a straight face throughout Nana’s melodramatic rants, which only raise her ire all the more. It brings back the memories of similar childhood lectures.
You can see the two grow closer as he grows up, starts reading and asking some pretty mature questions, Nana doesn’t know how to answer deep thoughts on blue bloods, nobility and the divine right of kings or why God didn’t tell her Cree ancestors in Saskatchewan that they could be kings too, just as well as European kings.
Other conversations aren’t as intellectual such as the discussion of Aunt Gertrude and Nana’s roast beef dinners could have happened over any typical family’s dinner table.
I can picture my own dearly departed mother giving me a similar “when will you settle down talk” to the one which concludes this production on a more serious note.
And while the ending is pretty unusual and surreal, you grow to love these characters because you know these characters. Chances are you are these characters or part of them.
“It (For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again) is about an artist, an autobiography of author Michel Tremblay who wanted to bring his mother back from the grave because she was his biggest inspiration and supporter when he was trying to become a playwright,” Czuma summarized.
Grahame Renyk is usually seen front and centre during New West Theatre’s summer musical/ comdedy revue shows, but this time he is behind the scenes directing “For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, which began last week, and runs Oct. 6-9 at the Sterndale-Bennett Theatre.
“In another life, I teach at Queen’s University in Kingston. So I’ve done some directing,” he said adding he has enjoyed working with actors Marek Czuma and New West newcomer Karen Johnson-Diamond in Michel Tremblay’s two person homage to motherhood.
“These are two great parts for actors and these two actors are at the top of their games. They are very talented and experienced people,” Renyk praised.
“It’s been a delightful experience because these are two really great parts for actors. It’s been lovely to shift genres and work on a different kind of theatre,” Renyk enthused, who took the Fall off to direct this production.
“That’s the best thing about New West Theatre is the variety. There is our summer music and comedy revues and there are these great Canadian plays like this one. It’s a great shift. There is a lot of comedy in it. It’s come together fantastic,” Renyk continued.
And while the ending is pretty unusual and surreal, dare we say cheesy, you grow to love these characters because you know these characters. Chances are you are these characters or part of them.
The play runs at 8 p.m. Oct 6-9 at 8 p.m. each night including a 1 p.m. matinee on Oct. 9.
For more information and ticket prices, go to http://www.newwesttheatre.com
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
A version of this story also appears in the Oct. 6 edition of the Lethbridge Sun-Times
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