Skip to content

Hop on the train to A Likely Story

Teatro La Quindicina opens season with a world premiere
1206 Teatro sup
Mathew Hulshof, left, Rachel Bowron, Vincent Forcier, Jeff Haslam and Jenny McKillop star in A Likely Story now running at Varscona Theatre.

PREVIEW

A Likely Story

Teatro La Quindicina

Runs until June 22

Varscona Theatre

10329 83 Ave., Edmonton

Tickets: $42 regular, $37 seniors/students, $25 Saturday matinee and pay-what-you-can Tuesday

 

If you’ve ever just wanted to chuck life’s daily routine, Teatro La Quindicina’s season opener and world premiere, A Likely Story, will whisk you away.

Playwright/director Stewart Lemoine crafts a frothy 90-minute production whereby five eccentric characters are thrown into an improbable plot line.

Yet the characters are relatable, the plot is believable and the quirky events are laced together with an abundance of wit and charm.

The time period is flexible yet costume designer Leona Brausen chooses to reflect a mix of conservatism and sweeping elegance that fits the 1950s.

While I’m tempted to solely heap praise on Lemoine’s script with its twists, turns and loops, the strength of the cast's characterizations keeps the momentum rolling from realism to fantasy and back again.

Set in Basel, Switzerland, five strangers meet at a train platform and decide to travel together. Theo (Rachel Bowron) wants to break up with her fiancée in a face-to-face meeting. It’s more personal that way, and she’s off to Salamanca, Spain.

Barbara (Jenny McKillop) is slated see a show in Geneva but misses her train. Cyril (Vincent Forcier) is a student writing a thesis on natural Baltic amber and is wondering if there’s a student discount on tickets going to Gdansk, Poland.

Hugh (Mathew Hulshof) is a sweet guy who tries to help everyone get back on track, while Karl is the debonair narrator/producer who functions as a traffic controller serving sage advice and a few aperitifs.

As Karl, actor Jeff Haslam comes across as an amusing, obsequious servant ready to please. Yet to a degree, Karl orchestrates the events and much to everyone’s delight, Haslam reveals flashes of a mischievous puppet master at work.

Bowron as Theo is the perky ingénue undeterred by an uncomfortable errand. Similar to a fluttering butterfly, she pivots across Europe in search of her fiancée with a sublime mixture of full-throttle energy and fragility.

At first glance, Jenny McKillop’s Barbara is a woman of grace and refinement. While Barbara doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind, she’s also a good listener.

The play’s most poignant scene takes place while Barbara sits on the shores of the Baltic coast. A man (played by Haslam) whose wife just died arrives to follow her deathbed wishes. This tug-at-the-heart scene between these two pros left many in the theatre with moist eyes.

And Vincent Forcier’s Cyril comes across as a bit of stuffy bookwork who discovers that the allure of Salamanca outshines Gdansk. And the fun is watching Forcier develop Cyril’s character arc.

But it was Mathew Hulshof who undeniably stole every scene he was in. Operating on all cylinders, Hulshof perfects a tour-de-force performance as multiple characters: Hugh a hotel keeper; a vivacious flamenco dancer; a paranoid Polish clerk, and the long-winded son of a British ambassador. His attention to detail, timing and mannerisms is impeccable.

A Likely Story, now running at Varscona Theatre until June 22, lends itself to the harmonic rock and roll of locomotives and cars swaying when riding the rails. It sets out to have a good time and it does just that.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks