It’s being called “a laugh-out-loud look at love in the age before the Internet.”
For its spring show from Feb. 28 to March 16, Yellow Point Drama Group (YPDG) will present well-known Canadian playwright Norm Foster’s hilarious comedy Looking. In this two-act play, four middle-aged singles search for a mate while navigating life’s pitfalls. Andy and Matt are long-time buddies looking for surefire ways to meet women. Val and Nina are best friends forever looking to meet men. A personal ad in the newspaper brings them all together on a blind date, setting off laughable plot twists and an unexpected hookup.
Cleverly written, funny, and full of innuendo, Looking shows us we don’t always get what we set our sights on, but what we end up with can be an unexpected surprise.
The Hamilton Spectator says, “Norm Foster’s never been funnier, warmer, sweeter and more wildly romantic,” while the St. Thomas Times-Journal calls Looking “One of [Foster’s] best and most enduring and endearing plays.”
Directed by Armando Dosantos, Looking stars Gordon McInnis (Andy), Brian March (Matt), Moira Steele (Nina) and Barbara Metcalf (Val).
Dosantos says he was drawn to this play because of the humour in Foster’s script.
“I was a looking for a comedy, and this one strikes me as funny because it deals with older people dealing with the inadequacies of dating,” he said. “This writer, you could say, is one of the best Canadian playwrights right now. This was a play that creates a very funny situation amongst these four folks in their mid-50s trying to have relationships and dates.”
The two-act play has multiple scene changes, and Dosantos says the story runs very seamlessly from beginning to end.
Foster has been writing plays and musicals since 1982, and, according to his website, he has been the most-produced playwright in Canada every year for the past 20 years. His plays receive an average of 150 productions annually, making him, by far, the most-produced playwright in the history of his country, his website states.
It made sense for the YPDG to choose a Foster play for its spring production, as the drama group has been making an effort lately to support Canadian playwrights, and for the last three years, the group has mostly presented plays by Canadian writers, says Dosantos, adding they have also focused on locally-written plays and modern plays.
Dosantos says the rehearsals for Looking have been going well.
“Those four actors are all very experienced,” he said. “With experienced actors, you tend to direct a little less than you usually do. You always have to be mindful of the choreography on stage, but good actors tend to thread themselves into the choreography of the play, and you just nudge here and there.”
Looking opens Thursday, Feb. 28 with a discounted preview evening — tickets are only $12 — and runs over three subsequent weekends on March 1, 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16. Doors open at 7 p.m., and showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $17 for adults and $12 for youth.
The Yellow Point Drama Group will host a dinner theatre presentation Saturday, March 9. Doors open at 6 p.m., and there will be a three-course dinner before the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets for the dinner theater are $35. There will also be a special matinee showing Saturday, March 16 at 2 p.m. Doors open at 1 p.m., and tickets are $12.
Tickets for Looking are available at the door at Cedar Hall at 2388 Cedar Rd., by calling 250-245-7516 or by e-mailing ypdg@shaw.ca. For more information, click here.
Yellow Point Drama Group is celebrating its 60th season in 2013, sponsored by the Ladysmith and District Credit Union. In the last 60 years, the amateur theatre group has marked a number of successful milestones, winning numerous festival awards along the way for the quality of its acting, direction, costumes and set design.
Watch for details of the upcoming 60th Anniversary Dinner Show in April online.
Dosantos says the drama group was formed in 1952, and its first play was produced in the spring of 1953. YPDG is one of the oldest drama groups in the province and the second-oldest group on Vancouver Island, according to Dosantos.
“I don’t know why, but this area has a bit of a history in theatre,” he said. “This is the play we decided on as part of our 60th anniversary season, and we’re very pleased with it.”
