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"Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii"
November 14-16, 2008
Childs Auditorium, Deep River
written by Allan Stratton
directed by Max Ryan
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Review by "Argus", published in the North Renfrew Times, 2008 Nov.19:
"Nurse Jane" a farce to be reckoned with
The Deep River Players' performance of "Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii" was a farce full of fun!
Loralie Cochrane produced a winner of a show. The Canadian playwright, Allan Stratton, would have been suitably impressed by Max Ryan's direction of his comical play.
The story is of Vivien (Phyllis Heeney), a Harlequin romance novel writer who sets out to have an affair with Edgar (Jeremy Whitlock), a stodgy, married man.
Vivien, being quite the ditzy character, starts a train of absurd events involving Edgar's wife Doris (Leena Philipose), Vivien's editor Betty (Pat Hoelke), Betty's husband Bill (Ike Dimayuga), and two youths, Peggy (Vanessa Sears) and Peter (Kyle Wilkes), whose parentage is up for grabs.
During the course of the play, Vivien dictates a complete novel about Nurse Jane into her recorder.
The program states that a farce is "characterized by physical humour, the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances."
The physical humour was exceptional, the absurdity made the Hawaiian clad audience constantly chuckle with glee, and the performances were definitely broadly stylized.
The play was fast-paced, full of energy and kept us wondering what hilarity would occur next.
Pretty in pink, Phyllis Heeney took physical comedy to an amazing level and stole the show. The audience fell in love with Vivien/Nurse Jane as Heeney effortlessly climbed in and out of windows, up doorways and around railings.
A slight lighting change when Vivien "became" Nurse Jane might have been interesting.
Jeremy Whitlock has an innate ability for comedic timing and for using amusing facial expressions and body language. The effort he put into this show was no exception.
After a slow start and a sporadically used accent, Leena Philipose did a wonderful job of becoming completely frazzled while keeping with the snootiness of her character.
The audience enjoyed Ike Dimayuga in his panty-hose disguise and his body language expressed his neurotic character perfectly. Dimayuga's enunciation could have been better, but clarity improved when he turned down the volume on his speech near the end.
Pat Hoelke (Betty) got the biggest laugh when she took a cake to the face without batting an eyelash. It would have been nice to see her character played more to the extreme.
Kyle Wilkes gave a gem of a performance with his excellent timing as he was hit with door after door, great use of pauses in speech and movement, and funny body language.
Vanessa Sears is always a joy to watch and played Peggy with sophisticated panache.
Thanks to the skills of stage manager Wendy Wright and her crew, the show ran so smoothly, the audience may have even forgotten there was a backstage crew until they came out at curtain call.
The set, designed by Cal Doucette and Phyllis Heeney, made effective use of the space, creating two levels framed with a double staircase.
The set decorations were well thought out down to the smallest details. With its stark white background, the photo of Doris tended to distract the eye somewhat.
Makeup and hair were done expertly. Costumes and props were very effective.
The standing ovation was justly deserved.
To top off a wonderful performance, the proceeds will be going toward building a school in Dustin Houde's memory through Free the Children.
A fantastic show and a good cause - what more could you ask for?
Bravo, Deep River Players!
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