Hockey rinks, tailgate parties and comedy face off at centre ice this month, as the Vernon Eagles Hall becomes the stage for actors lacing up their skates in Erinara Studio’s hockey-themed production of the The Good Game.
Directed by Ray Mordan and Arlene Irwin, The Good Game is a locker-room yarn featuring four over-the-hill hockey players who reunite after 30 years for a charity game.
A former radio reporter, a play-by-play announcer and his press box commentator from the team’s heyday round out the roster of off-ice characters portrayed by a local lineup of veteran actors including Frank Takacs, Brad Hull and Kim Fournier.
“The play is a slice of hockey Canadiana that everyone will enjoy,” said Mordan, who played the older radio commentator when The Good Game was last produced in Vernon at the Schubert Centre in 2009.
This time he plays the part of Jim, the colour commentator.
“Everyone, and certainly anyone who has ever played the game, will relate to this play. Husbands, sons, or boyfriends that play or used to play hockey, will certainly relate closely to the characters in this production, but the entire audience will enjoy the humour,” he said.
The well-paced dialogue, written by Quesnel playwright Roy Teed, has produced laughs that have echoed throughout the locker room as bawdy banter gets passed between a flamboyant French-Canadian player, a goalie with too many pucks to the head, the former captain whose NHL dream was dashed by injuries, and the team’s enforcer-turned-English-professor.
“The Good Game is Erinara Studio’s first production and we experienced a successful run in Kelowna in November,” said Irwin, who also produces the show. “Audiences loved it. The curtain rose up, the puck dropped and the laughs came easy.”
“We’re in the thick of the hockey season, and the winter weather feeds perfectly the show’s theme and atmosphere,” said Mordan, adding the soundtrack is a trip down memory lane, drawing on Canadian pop hits from the ’70s that everyone will recognize.
The Good Game can be seen for one night only at the Vernon Eagles Hall, 5101 25th Ave., Saturday, Feb 8. Doors open at 6:30 and show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $27 available from the Ticket Seller, (250) 549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca. Tickets at the door are $30.
