From beginnings some dozen or so years back The Cawston Players are lately appealing to an ever bigger and more appreciative audience.
The players wowed us again this past weekend with their annual Christmas show, this time a 1960’s comic farce by Marc Camoletti.
Laughs abound from ‘fasten seatbelts’ on through a delightfully bumpy ride aboard the fast paced vehicle called Boeing-Boeing. Hapless and sublimely without conscience, Guy Sasseville gave us Bernard, the Parisian bon vivant organizing his love life around three flight attendants- Gretchen (Lufthanza), Gloria (Trans Worlds Airways) and Gabrielle (Air Italia).
Robynne Frasch gave us the sweetly self-absorbed, ravenously pragmatic Gloria who overcomes any challenge to her peculiarly New York take on love and life. Her well-crafted dainty gestures were a delight. Eben McKiblin made wonderful use of every inch of stage and waltzed deftly through his role as Bernard’s earnest American pal come to visit.And what a reception, as he shortly finds himself in the arms of all three of the girls.
Heather Paananen as Berthe, the French Maid, provides a wonderful link to the recurrent peril that besets ‘the boys’ as they sort out their sundry love affairs. Paananen made superb use of “the hairy eyeball” to convey her disapproval of all their shenanigans. Holly Hart, as the comely Gabrielle, struts across the stage with that rapturous petulance peculiar to an Italian film star—quick temper included. Amanda Elyzen explodes with eye-popping vigor as the forthright, lusty and quaintly sentimental Gretchen.
Hart, Frasch and Elyzen gave carefully turned renderings of Italian, New York and German accents using them as a delightful platform on which to develop their character. The audience loved it.
The set, a chic Paris apartment, was created through the ever-reliable artistic flair of the Players’ Yako de Arburn.
Teaming up to both produce and direct the show were Bob McAtamney and Amanda Elyzen, ably backed up by Stage Manager, Louise Giguere, who deftly assembled special props.
Altogether an enjoyable weekend of theatre with The Cawston Players
Dave Cursons is a contributor to the Western News
