Wine, nuns, and spies will all be part of the next production for a local theatre company.
The Chilliwack Players Guild presents Drinking Habits from April 25 to May 5 at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre.
“It’s a farce, and a farce is one step beyond a comedy, but below a pantomime,” said director Ken Fynn.
The play, written by Tom Smith, takes place in a small town in North American in the 1960s. It’s based around a small convent made up of just a few nuns and a Mother Superior where the nuns grow grapes and sell juice to the people in the village to make some extra money.
“But the grape juice wasn’t selling well so the nuns, not telling Mother Superior, are making wine.”
They’re making the alcohol to keep the convent’s doors open, but Paul and Sally, reporters and former fiancées, are hot on their trail. They go undercover as a nun and priest, but their presence, combined with the addition of a new nun, spurs paranoia throughout the convent that spies have been sent from Rome to shut them down. Wine and secrets are inevitably spilled as everyone tries to preserve the convent and reconnect with lost loves.
“There’s so many different levels of what’s going on… that the audience gets brought along for a really fun ride, and then the end brings everything together,” Fynn said. “It’s a surprise ending. It catches you off-guard.”
He said the choreography has been the biggest challenge, calling it a “dance of doors.”
“We have eight doors and people are coming and going at any given time. That’s been the challenge of the show is to get it so it flows.”
What he’s enjoyed the most is working with the cast. There are eight actors in Drinking Habits, and it’s a nice mix, said producer Laura Hames. There’s one new cast member, a few who have returned after being away for while, plus some who have been on stage a lot of the past few years.
Fynn has been able to give more time to the actors and they’ve connected like a family, which he said has made his job as director much easier.
“They’re listening and they’re giving. I’m amazed at what they do.”
Costume designer Maggie Saunders made cassocks by hand from scratch, but more impressively, she turned a vampire costume into a cardinal’s robe. She said the black outfit which has a large hood and red satin on the inside, was perfect.
Saunders also crafted a cardinal’s mitre. She initially used cardboard and wrapped it in fabric, but realized it was folding. Instead, she bought foam place mats from a dollar store which worked like a charm.
Drinking Habits is filled with several love interests, plus mistaken identities, and a whole lot of humour.
“Nowadays, people need to laugh. There’s so much happening in the world that’s not making you laugh, so if you need a night out to just laugh and enjoy yourself, right now is the perfect time,” Hames said.
The Chilliwack Players Guild presents Drinking Habits from April 25 to May 5 at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre. Show times are: 7:30 p.m. on April 25, 26, 27, May 2, 3 and 4; plus two 2 p.m. matinees on April 28 and May 5. Tickets are $30 for adults and $27.50 for seniors and students. Tickets available in person at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre Box Office, by calling 604-391-SHOW, or online at chilliwackculturalcentre.ca.
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