Summer is the perfect time for a farce and that’s what audience goers will get with the Many Hats’ third production of the 2018 season with Norm Foster’s Self Help.
“In the summer show we like to have something very light,” said director Eric Hanston. “If you’re going to get people off the beach you have to get them in with something that has a lot of laughs.”
Self-Help revolves around a married couple, Cindy (Tammy Hansel) and Hal Savage (Vance Potter) both struggling actors trying to earn a living.
The wife turns to a self-help book for inspiration to find direction for life and realizes the book is filled with “malarky.”
“She decides she could write something better than that. That happens and seven years later they are swimming in money and living in a big house and that’s when things start to get interesting,” said Hanston.
The couple’s lives unravel in a funny way as a body turns up and has to be dealt with.
“I don’t know if I want to reveal too much more than that. Things start happening that cause a bunch of anxiety and confusion for her that are funny.”
Rounding out the cast is a brassy agent (Dianna Zumpano-Gin), an eccentric maid (Jeanne Wnuk), a confused police detective (Christopher Millin) and a snoopy reporter (Jason Lane).
“Tammy Hansel, who plays Cindy Savage, hasn’t been on the stage for a few years. Vance Potter is a longtime Many Hats member and the maid, Bernice, played by Jeanne Wnuk, is a Many Hats favourite and also has not been on the stage for a few years,” said Hanston. “It’s nice to have three seasoned hands on the cast.”
Self-Help will be Zumpano-Gin’s third production with Many Hats while this mark’s Lane’s second after the roll-in-the-aisles comedy Buying the Moose earlier this year.
New to the stage is Millin.
“He’s the owner of Saint-Germain Café and it’s been many, many years since he last performed. We’ve been after him for years,” Hanston said.
Self-Help took the Cannery Stage at the Cannery Trade Centre on July 5 and will run until July 28.
Showtimes are Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights with curtains at 8 p.m. Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $25 for adults, seniors and students are $22. Tickets can be bought at Nest and Nectar or by calling 250-493-7275.
