What do a Scrabble game, a 1990s car phone, coffee mugs and an Oddfellows Halloween dance have in common? They all figure in Basement Theatre’s spring production of The Affections of May, by popular Canadian playwright Norm Foster, on stage at the Osprey Arts Centre May 25, 26, and 27.
May Henning and her husband have spent the last year running a bed and breakfast in a small town called Grogan’s Cove. With winter approaching, May finds herself alone, with funds very short and a very large pile of wood to chop alone. Although she has purchased two brand new axes, she decides to take to her bed for comfort.
However, she is given no peace, as first the local odd jobs man and then the local bank manager begin to trouble her peace and quiet. How will May get that wood chopped, find the money to make it through the winter in this summer resort town, and heal her wounded spirits?
Alison Stanton returns to the Osprey stage as May Henning, a role she plays with wit and wiles. Audiences will remember her as Alice in Peter Oliver’s production of Alice, The Musical and as director of The Mikado and Hoodwinked.
Chett Buchanan plays one of the men in her life. Chett is one of the funniest actors in Shelburne, last seen in February in The Compleat Works of Shakespeare, but remembered as well for other notable roles as a cross-dressing private eye, a dashing villain in Two and One Half Penny Opera, and many other roles.
With these two seasoned professionals are Ed Trevors and Ben Pooley, both relatively new to the stage but already gaining reputations for their comic delivery and dashing good looks.
Directed by recently retired artistic director of the Osprey Susan Hoover, with the able assistance of Lisa Buchanan, The Affections of May is a romantic comedy, equal parts outrageously funny and touching. Dealing as it does with small town life in Atlantic Canada where poverty is always just around the corner, The Affections of May tells a story all can relate to, while keeping us laughing at our common plight.
Set design is by Merrie Howe and Mary Lou Keith, lighting by Mike McGill, and props by Georg MacDonald.
Basement Theatre’s The Affections of May plays at the Osprey, Friday, May 25 and Saturday, May 26 at 8 p.m. as well as a Sunday, May 27 matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15, available at The Whirligig Book Shop, 875 1117, online at www.ospreyartscenre.com or at the door. Advance tickets are recommended but not required.
