Echo Player’s first production of the season will allow audiences to see the importance of humour while getting old.
That’s according to the director of the play called Nana’s Naughty Knickers, Don Harper.
“Any good comedy has to have a good subtext and this one basically deals with the trials and tribulations that many of us in this area are facing, and that is growing old.”
Nana’s Naughty Knickers runs at the Village Theatre in Qualicum Beach from Oct 3 to 20.
Harper is from Southern Alberta but spent the majority of his life in Grand Prairie. His wife became involved with the theatre community there and soon Harper joined her.
“I discovered if I wanted to spend any time with my wife I had to get involved too,” he said.
Harper acted and directed there for many years and then moved to the area in 2005. He has now acted in and directed a number of shows for Echo Players as well as for Bard to Broadway.
Two or three years ago a friend of his, who runs the theatre company in Grand Prairie, asked him to come back to direct the opening show of the season, which would be Nana’s Naughty Knickers, and he agreed. He was flown back there a number of times to direct that show.
When Harper was asked by Echo Players if he had any scripts in mind for this theatre season he showed the board the script for Nana’s Naughty Knickers.
“I said, I directed this show in Grand Prairie, it’s a really fun show,” he said. “I gave the script to Echo Players and they jumped on it.”
The story involves Nana, who is in her 80’s, running an illegal business from her apartment, making sexy lingerie for seniors. Her granddaughter comes to live with her for the summer, while she’s looking for a place to live during university in the fall. While Nana is waiting for a delivery of lingerie from the seamstress, an unexpected package arrives by mistake, and the fun ensues.
Harper said one of the exciting things about the play is the “active set” which he calls one of the main characters of the show.
For ticket information visit www.echoplayers.ca or call 250-752-3522.
