What could be more Canadian, or more appropriate for a theatre adjacent to a curling rink?
Kristen Da Silva’s Hurry Hard – a play about the misfortunes and potential triumphs of a curling team – is the first show of the year for Peninsula Productions (based in White Rock’s Centennial Park).
The comedy takes the ice (figuratively speaking) Thursday, Jan. 25 to Sunday, Jan. 28 at the company’s black box theatre (at 14600 North Bluff Rd.).
While there may not be any skilled curlers involved in Hurry Hard, the staged reading is replete with knowledgeable theatre people.
Husband and wife acting/teaching team Robert Moloney and Julie Lynn Mortensen – co-founders of the newly-established White Rock Actors Studio – are both in the forefront, Moloney as director and Mortensen in a leading role.
And city council member Michele Partridge – for many years the owner and instructor of White Rock-based The Drama Class – is happy to be returning to her theatre roots with a comedic supporting role in the play.
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All good theatre is rooted in conflict, and Hurry Hard is no exception.
The marital split of devoted curlers Bill (Brian Johnston) and Sandy (Mortensen) has created a gender-based fissure in their old team. Now divided into a men’s team and a women’s team, they divide their ice time at the Stayner Curling Club.
Naturally, there’s a catalyst – in the form of a medical crisis that will leave the men’s team short a player on the day of the major curling event, the Regional Bonspiel. That leaves both teams vulnerable to their neighbouring rivals, the Meaford team.
Over the course of the play, it becomes apparent that if there is any chance for their home town to claim the coveted trophy, the two Stayner teams will have to reconcile their differences and work as one.
“It’s one of the funniest plays I’ve ever read,” Moloney said, noting that while it takes the opportunity to poke a little fun at the sport and the curling community, it’s done with respect. Also, with the playwright’s permission, he has relocated the play from Ontario to B.C. and made reference to local communities that will give it increased resonance for a Peninsula audience.
But it’s a also a play that’s relatable to people who may never have ‘swept a stone’.
“At its heart, it’s a play about redemption,” Moloney said.
“Circumstances throw these people together and force them to look at themselves, and to be brave enough to make changes to break the old patterns.”
He added that he’s delighted in an experienced cast that also includes Duncan Minett and Nelson Leis.
They’re all perfect for bringing out all the humour in the script, he said – but also for playing people in their 40s or 50s who have been alive long enough to see some of their plans fulfilled, but also long enough to have been disappointed in some of their most cherished dreams and hopes.
“(The cast) just crack me up, but they’re also willing to mine the heart of the play,” Moloney said.
“It needs to have that emotional weight – and they’re all ready to bring it.”
The two most touching characters in Hurry Hard, he said, are Sandy and Bill.
“Sandy is beautiful, she’s loyal, she’s principled and she’s determined,” Moloney said. “Her husband has made a mistake – she set a boundary and he crashed it. But she’s still very much in love with him.”
Bill, on the other hand, seems to have trouble accessing his emotions, Moloney said.
“He’s a stoic – stuck in his ways. He’s weighed-down and saddened by life. He’s made mistakes, but hasn’t really dealt with them.”
Also haunting him, Moloney added, is a an old issue between himself and his brother Terry (Minett) that has “affected them all through their life” – and which may be resolved, finally, by the events of the play.
“Terry is a hilarious character – unreliable and irresponsible, but he also has the highest stakes in the game. He’s a former alcoholic, whose dreams and hopes have been dashed in the past – for him winning this bonspiel is critically important.”
Darlene (Partridge), a hairdresser and best friend to Sandy is also a very funny character, Moloney said – and is a counterpart to the kind of comedic foil that Terry provides for Bill.
“She’s a reluctant curler, probably not a very good curler, but she does it because of her friendship with Sandy. She’s also very sexually adventurous – she has a voracious appetite and is unabashed about it, which is refreshing.
“Johnny is incredibly attractive – he has a way with women that is seemingly effortless and leaves them weak in the knees, but what he has in attractiveness he seriously lacks in brains,” Moloney laughed.
He’s also one of those personalities who seems to coast through life without serious repercussions, he added.
“But interestingly enough, he’s also the catalyst for all the change that has to happen in the play.”
Performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets for Hurry Hard are available at showpass.com, or by calling 604-536-8335.