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The Flying Detective wings its way to Morinville

Accidental Humour Co. tours its Edmonton International Fringe Festival hit

PREVIEW

The Flying Detective

Accidental Humour Co.

Saturday, Sept. 28 at 6:30 p.m.

Morinville Community Cultural Centre

9502 100 Ave.

Dinner theatre tickets: $60 adults, $50 seniors. Visit ticketpro.ca

 

This week, an avalanche of new and returning TV shows make their season premiere. If you’re a cop show addict (or not), you don’t need to watch the screen to get a kick out of one of the best chase scenes ever produced locally.

Just check out Accidental Humour Co.’s multi-media dinner theatre production of The Flying Detective, playing Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre.

One of the Edmonton Fringe Festival’s major hits garnering five out of five stars, the production is an Alberta story blending historical fact and fiction. Travelling back to 1919, John Larson, a nefarious criminal murders Const. William Nixon at Fort Edmonton Park in a botched robbery attempt.

It was the second police shooting in Edmonton and Det. James Campbell, a crusty veteran officer vows to nail Larson and put him behind bars. However, Larson has flown the coop with a three-day head start to Edson.

Enter First World War flying ace, Wop May. He suggests flying Campbell to Edson thereby cutting the chase time down to three hours. It was Canada’s first flight and a historical moment.

One of the play’s cleverest ploys is watching a cast of four assemble a life-size airplane prop with wings and a propeller.

“We spent months building it. Up until the day we opened, we were tweaking it. We wanted to take a bunch of parts and snap them together like magic in one minute,” said Brent Felzien, script writer and video designer.

And it truly is brilliant theatre magic. Ironically, this 75-minute production might never have occurred. But it was the push from a persistent fan that precipitated it.

Back in 2018 after the rollicking success of The Spark, Accidental Humour Co. planned a short hiatus. Its five founding members – Felzien, Willie Banfield, Cliff Kelly, Neil LeGrandeur and Kimberlee Stadelmann – were creatively fatigued and the shows felt formulaic.

However, Douglas Woodhouse, president of the Edson & District Historical Society, knew of the long-lost chase in the society’s archives and pitched the idea to Felzien.

“I instantly fell in love with the story. Here we were educated people and we had never heard about it. It was a real adventure story about a real Canadian hero. We felt obligated to tell the story,” said Felzien.

“We all felt strongly we didn’t want to make a cartoon. Our previous shows were slapstick and lampoonish. This was a different story and we wanted to treat it with respect.”

The original five, who met as theatre arts students at University of Lethbridge, enjoyed an equal appreciation for live theatre and film. The troupe’s special signature mixes real-time actors on stage interacting seamlessly with pre-recorded film scenes on a screen. Indoor scenes are live. Outdoor scenes play out on a screen.

“It’s a magical show in how the lines are blurred in all the tricks we do and how we expand the world between the stage and the outdoors.”

The 15 film scenes were shot at Fort Edmonton Park, Athabasca, central Alberta, Gibbons, Stettler and Big Valley, as well as on a green screen.

But the real story is built around Campbell and Wop May’s friendship.

“Back then Wop May just flew the detective in and out. We gave May a larger role. He’s a young adventurer, a rabble rouser, a forward-thinking man. Campbell was buttoned down, by-the-book from a different generation. It’s a buddy cop show.”

“The changes made are in service of Canadian history. We have our history, our stories and they’re worth telling.”

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