Three Abbotsford-based performers have key roles in an online production taking place this week.
Lori Rippin, Adriel Brandt and Ruth Louise Mackenzie are among the cast of The Schoolmistress by Arthur Wing Pinero, presented March 12 and 13 at 7:30 p.m. by the Langley-based Theatre in the Country (TIC).
Rippin takes on the role of Emma Rankling, the clever wife of Rear-Admiral Archibald Rankling.
Brandt tackles John Mallory, lieutenant of HM Flagship Pandora, and Mackenzie fills the role of Ermntrude Johnson, a young student at the Volumnia school.
This is first time that Rippin and Mackenzie have performed with TIC. Rippin is TIC’s scenic painter.
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The Schoolmistress is classic British farce that was first performed in 1886. It depicts the complications at a girl’s boarding school when the headmistress is away, leaving her rather listless and ill-suited husband in charge.
The script is considered remarkably fast-paced for the period in which it is written, and director Thomas Smith has further edited the piece down to make for a fun, raucous and hilarious evening for everyone involved.
Pinero, a lawyer turned actor/playwright, is considered an early leader of the farce form, and The Schoolmistress has been performed around the world for 150 years now. A film was made in the 1960s.
During the pandemic, TIC has presented 24 plays on Zoom and three fully live-streamed productions from their theatre on Glover Road.
Tickets are pay what you can from $10, and can be found online at theatreinthecountry.com or by calling 604-259-9737. The Zoom link to the production is sent out 1.5 hours before show time.
Lori Rippin rehearses at home for Theatre in the Country’s online production of The Schoolmistress on March 12 and 13. (Submitted photo)
Ruth Louise Mackenzie rehearses at home for Theatre in the Country’s online production of The Schoolmistress on March 12 and 13. (Submitted photo)
