The Peninsula Players began their annual Christmas Pantomime performance of Little Red and the Wolf this week.
The PNR caught up with actor Rob Friesen who plays Dame Granny Hood to tell us about his role.
“The dame generally has a lot of silliness to it and I definitely enjoy the silliness of the role,” he said.
A big challenge for Friesen came just weeks before the show when the Players lost one of the actors for one of the roles due to another commitment. This meant Friesen only had about a week before the show to practice in rehearsals.
“So for me it was trying to catch up to the rest of the cast,” he said.
Another challenge for Friesen was trying to do everything that needs to be done in the Granny costume.
“There’s lots and lots of layers and it’s a very active character. It’s very hard to do everything within the constraints of the costume,” he said.
The play isn’t just the typical Little Red Riding Hood tale. It’s an amalgamation of a lot of different folk tales of Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, and it throws in some other random characters.
“It has a lot of different aspects and a lot of different stories mixed in there as well,” said Friesen.
Friesen first got into community theatre when he was just a kid and loved it. His family also took part in it.
“My dad was in community theatre and then I joined community theatre.”
This will be his fourth Peninsula Players show. He was in their presentation of Fawlty Towers in the spring and hopes to do it again in 2017.
In terms of getting into character, he said he’s not a method actor.
“So pretty much all I do is get into costume and I’m ready to go.”
The show will continue tonight (Dec. 23), and on Dec. 26, 27, 28 and 29 and the Mary Winspear Centre.
For tickets call 250-656-0275.
