Playgoers of Lethbridge has the “Key” to a good farce

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British  farce is the “key” to a successful dinner theatre according to the Playgoers of Lethbridge. The long standing Lethbridge theatre company is on stage at the Lethbridge Legion, Oct. 28-31 with John Chapman and Dave Freeman’s “Key For Two” featuring local actors  Don Berner, Vanessa Boila, Jeff Guzzi, Elaine Jagielski, Donna Kalau, Marcie Stork and Richard Amery.
Donna Kalau and Vanessa Boila rehearse. Photo By Richard Amery“It’s a nice British farce which Playgoers is noted for,” enthused director Ed Bayly. “Key For Two” is  the story of Harriet, a divorcee living in a Brighton flat who makes ends meet by entertaining two married gentleman callers on different days of the week. Confusion arises when her friend Anne, whose marriage is collapsing arrives, closely followed her drunk husband. One of Harriet’s lovers sprains his ankle and is confined to bed. Confusion arrises when  the two wives arrive in search of their wayward husbands. It explodes into a crescendo of mistaken identities, splendidly farcial situations and a humourous climax of needle sharp precision.
It’s got some  very good individual parts for the actors and it’s lots of fun. It will be a good crowd pleaser,” Bayly continued.
“We thought it was an appropriate play for a dinner theatre,” he added, noting  Playgoers haven’t performed this particular production before though they have performed  “Bedfull of Foreigners” and “Move Over Mrs. Markham” by the same playwrights.
“Both of them were very successful and well received by the audiences,” Bayly said, adding the Playgoers of Lethbridge have done dinner theatres at most of  the major motels in the city.
They also perform a massive main stage production in February at the Yates Theatre. This year it will be Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” which runs Feb. 3-6. Next year Playgoers will be performing “ The Importance of Being Earnest.
But for now, the play, “A Key For Two,” is the thing.
“This  play is coming together very well. We’ve got some really good people who are working reallDon Berner gets some help with one of his outfits. Photo by Richard Ameryy hard. All we need now is an audience,” Bayly said adding the cast is a mixture of  Playgoers veterans and a couple of newcomers.
“The highlight as always is watching how  cast has grown into their parts and made them their own. And the fact that everybody works so well together,” he said.
Tickets for the dinner theatre cost $40 from the Lethbridge Legion and Note-Able Music. Dinner is served at 6:30, with “Key For Two Beginning afterward at approximately 8 p.m.
—By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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