Three sisters, as unalike as any family members can be, gather at the home of their dying mother to visit with her and to engage in that strange, bantering dynamic known as sibling love.
Their drama unfolds in Marion Bridge, a play by Daniel MacIvor that opens this Friday, Nov. 14 at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons, as the latest production from Driftwood Players.
The play begins with a drunken dream of drowning, the subconscious fear of one sister, the chatty Agnes, performed by Laura Sigler. Agnes now lives in the big city and doesn’t much care for her former Cape Breton home.
Sister Theresa (Radhika Samwald) goes to mass and walks in the paths of righteousness while sister Louise (Naomi Dayneswood) is, well … a bit different. She’s a woman of few words unless you get her talking about her TV shows that reveal her rich, escapist life among the daytime soaps.
Though the audience doesn’t see mother, her personality emerges through the daughters’ memories and in her strange, blunt way of communicating by cue cards. The play’s title refers to the town of Marion Bridge and represents their mother’s dream of an ideal life. But dreams seldom live up to reality. During this intense time, each sister must discover what tore them apart, and what they can now do to bring their family together.
Director Lori Pepper, who also directed A Bedfull of Foreigners, is assisted by the experienced Bob Hunt. All three cast members are also experienced in performance and that shows in their polished delivery. Samwald is best known as producer of the Story Theatre program and she has appeared in other local plays. Dayneswood is a professional stage, film and TV actor, while Sigler played key roles in Melville Boys and Haiku.
Bill Forst provides the sound effects, while Pat Forst provides a delightful musical accompaniment with guitar and voice.
The playwright is also well known as an actor, most recently in TV’s Republic of Doyle. Born in Cape Breton, MacIvor seems to speak to his own roots and changing perspective of the area. The play was made into an award-winning movie in 2002 starring Molly Parker.
Marion Bridge also plays Saturday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. then again Nov. 20 to 22 in the evenings. There are two 1:30 p.m. matinées on Nov. 16 and 23. Tickets are $20 available at www.driftwoodplayers.ca or at The Blackberry Shop and Laedeli Gifts in Gibsons and the Visitor Info Centre in Sechelt.
