The Sidekick Players Club is celebrating its 20th season by opening with Norm Foster’s poignant and hilarious play, Mending Fences.

When Norm Foster promises us “huge laughs” he isn’t kidding. Take a relatively serious subject and wait for him to pick over the idea and make fun with it.

The play deals with such issues as sour separations, the need for reconciliation without expectation or really understanding why, alcoholism as a result of a partner’s infidelity, being an uncommunicative human being and how to repair the damage years later.

Mending Fences is really a play about how the failings of parents are handed down to subsequent generations. In other hands, this could be a dark and sombre play. But Foster knows innately that people like to laugh at themselves and their failings. In fact, he realizes that we have to laugh in order to heal.

The story centres, more or less, around Harry, an older farmer in Saskatchewan, who is divorced from Lori, with whom he had a son, Drew. Neither of the, have been in touch with Harry since leaving him twenty years before. In his present life, Harry has a relationship with his rancher neighbour, Gin, whose husband died some time ago.

The irreverent Foster does not shy away from giving his characters lines that are not quite politically correct, reflecting accurately the tone and truth of those characters. Mending Fences portrays human drama that is relevant to anyone who has ever been a parent, a son or daughter. This wonderful play is the story of past, present and possibly future relationships.

Sidekick welcomes back to the stage Joe Zucchiatti (Harry), who appeared in Looking last season as Matt, Jeff Pannell (Drew), who has graced the Sidekick stage several times including as the diabolical Rote in last season’s Wait Until Dark, and Vicki Dodwell (Gin), who returns to our stage after a successful run as the snooty, rich Lisette DeCourval in last season’s Les Belles Soeurs. Todd-Elliot Gates is returning on the heels of directing God of Carnage, assisted by Cathy Collis (Nina in Looking).

Mending Fences opens on Oct. 6 and runs to Oct. 22 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings plus one Sunday Matinee). All performances are held at the Tsawwassen Arts Centre, 1172 56th Street. Evening performances are at 8:00 p.m. and the matinée is at 2:00 p.m. on Oct. 16th. Reserve your seat by calling 604-288-2415.

For more information visit sidekickplayers.com.