Judy P's Tickle Trunk

…..or as Val says “Meet Ms. Penelope Farthing, named for what she charges an hour”

Penelope Farthingale
Outrageous but likable hooker

The old adage proved itself once again; bad dress rehearsal, good opening night.  After a stressful week of long evening rehearsals, flubbed lines and praying to Saint Genesius and Saint Vitas, we opened Welfarewell last night. I had the worst case of nerves so thankfully my first character was over seventy and nervous because she was auditioning for a play; both my hands and my knees were shaking. This was my first appearance in a scripted play in more than thirty years and I now remember why I loved it so much. There is nothing more pleasing to me than the sound of an audience laughing, or holding its breath in anticipation, or applauding. The response was good( but then who is going to go up to the cast after a show and say “well, that sucked!”) Another show tonight and then a matinee on Sunday and then it all over though the dregs of heavy eye makeup and lipstick as well as a peeling temporary tattoo will linger to remind me of my fun character.

This show was quite an undertaking for a community theatre group; tons of lines for the lead character, all riddled with quotes from Shakespeare and a lot of overlap in dialogue which made for some very confusing cues.  It was written by Cat Delaney who resides in Wolfville, Nova Scotia (not sure where she is from but here are a lot of English terms and phrases in the play). It was directed by Jan Morrison, another writer who lives in Prospect Bay (and the partner of my ex-husband) and produced by Elizabeth Pass, a resident of Prospect. My daughter was also in the play, another hooker. She, Jan and I are new to the group but the Prospect Players have been up and running for a few years and doing some very respectable work. I am inspired by everyone’s commitment to the production. It took a lot of hours from cast and crew to get the thing staged and a lot of patience from families who were stuck running lines. (Lance could probably have been an understudy for any character in my scenes, he read the lines so often – I think he knows them better than I do) A pity we couldn’t film it to share but copyright prohibits that. Here’s a couple of pictures from the show just to give you a taste.

Getting into character: Mrs. MacPherson frets before her audition

“Thanks for the ride HB” (Officer Honeybunch Hackett delivers Penny to the holding cell)

“Chill Grandma, that’s what they call the private meeting room” Penny reassures Esmerelda, an 80 year old bank robber, as Val and Dottie look on.

Curtain call – we applaud the star, Ellen Ryan

If there is a community theatre group in your neighbourhood I recommend you join them – there’s something for everyone and it’s a great way to get through those dreary days of late winter and spring.

Thanks for taking the pics, Lance, Carol and Anita. I hope to have some more photos to post later.

(c) Judy Parsons 2013