It is the end of the world and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse sit around the phone waiting to be called.
Instead they order pizza, half pepperoni and half bloody entrails of the innocent, which they also feed to the horses, killing them.
Now a happy woman named Phyllis, who died of a heart attack, is assigned to be the mortal liaison to the horsemen.
As they try to come up with a better name for their group, since they no longer have horses as transportation, Phyllis tries teaching them how to hitchhike to get to earth for the big event.
This is the synopsis of Apocalypse or Bust by Davis Alianiello, one of two single act plays being performed at Thomas Haney secondary’s Sightlines Theatre for the No Guts, No Glory One Act Comedy Festival.
The second play is The Diary of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain that imagines the lives of the first people created by God on earth. Adam’s life becomes much more complicated when Eve arrives. Eve insists on naming everything before he gets a chance to and won’t stop talking. However Eve is frustrated by Adam’s stupidity and decides to spend her time talking to the animals, especially the snake.
The Thomas Haney cast of Apocalypse or Bust have enjoyed the opportunity to take on a comedy, especially as a break from emotionally draining dramas such as The Diary of Anne Frank that the theatre group took on last year.
Grade 12 student Rhys Paterson plays the character of War. He has performed in two other comedy festivals at the school and in a production of Fawlty Towers and finds that comedy is easier to get into.
“When it comes to a drama role like Glass Menagerie you have to be a really depressed character. It’s really draining. You have to get into the mindset of being sad all the time,” said Paterson who enjoys joking around and roles that that allow him to be a little less serious on stage.
His role as War embodies the emotion of anger. War has a short temper and everything annoys him, especially music. And the liaison Phyllis drives him insane because she is so happy and positive. He is also unhappy about the fact that the group has to hitchhike to get to earth when he just wants to get there and kill something.
Grade 10 student Samantha Doucette plays the role of Famine, a sarcastic character that is always kind of hungry.
Aurora Weston, Grade 12, plays the overly optimistic, nothing-can-go-wrong character of Phyllis.
Tiara England, Grade 11, plays the role of Conquest. Conquest is supposed to be the leader of the group but gets overrun a lot by his peers. Conquest is uptight, just wanting to get the apocalypse over and done with, but is scared as to when it is going to happen because the group is unprepared.
Conquest always tries to get the group together to figure out the logistics, but becomes frustrated when nothing works out.
Grade 11 student Kobe Stimpson is Death.
“I don’t talk. I am friends with War and I encourage War to be himself and bring out his true colours,” said Stimpson.
Although Conquest spends a lot of time trying to keep War and Death apart, because they cause a lot of trouble.”
Jumping into comedic roles have presented some challenges for the group, especially having to stay in character.
“You can break character a lot easier because someone will say something or there will be a silent moment,” said England, adding that during one part she has to walk up to Weston with a completely straight face and say the quickest line but they have only managed to pull it off once where they haven’t laughed during rehearsals.
