PREVIEW
The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls
April 3 to 13
Walterdale Theatre
10322 – 83 Ave.
Tickets: $18 to $20. Call 780-4201757 or at www.tixonthesquare.ca
Attics are magical things. They are filled with dust-covered trunks and boxes, forgotten treasures that transport people on wonderful adventures.
Attics are filled with memories and long-forgotten secrets that somehow stand the test of time and wait for people to rediscover them.
In its 60th season, Walterdale Theatre stages The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls. It opens Wednesday, April 3, for a 10-day run that takes audiences to a place of rediscovery.
In this light comedy, three daughters unite the week of their father’s death. He has left instructions to host a wild party. During the celebratory good cheer, the Fine sisters escape to the attic for a few moments.
However, Jayne, JoJo and Jelly end up going through some emotional moments as they regress to childhood behaviours and are forced to test the newfound bonds of sisterhood.
St. Albert-based director Anne Marie Szucs, who has six siblings, understands the emotional dynamics in family tug-of-wars.
“I really wanted to direct a Canadian piece, something I was familiar with and I wanted to have fun,” said Szucs.
Unlike most plays written by one individual, The Attic is a comedy collectively written with input from Martha Ross, Alessa Dufresne, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Jennifer Brewin, Alisa Palmer and Leah Cherniak.
The older sister is the somewhat dowdy JoJo (Allie Connop), an untenured professor obsessed with Brecht. She is hypersensitive and throws the occasional temper tantrum.
“She’s a romantic and has spent her childhood reading. She has concepts of what love is supposed to be like and is not realistic in how the world works,” Szucs said.
Jayne (Wylee Johnston) is a successful financier living her life as a closeted lesbian.
“She’s a driven professional young woman, and her relationship with her sisters, especially with JoJo, takes a lot of air. There’s a lot of competitiveness.”
Jelly (Murriel Mapa), the youngest, is a self-employed artist who also cared for her father during his illness.
“She’s the outsider. She tries to see things both ways. She’s a very accomplished artist and very capable, but she’s not recognized as having any skills.”
As individuals, the three sisters are fulfilling their dreams.
“But when they get together, their childhood emotions flare up and they are surprised at how intense they are. They have to renegotiate their adult relationship as siblings and they get to decide if they have a relationship. At one point there’s so much tension, they almost decide not to.”
Szucs first discovered The Attic 17 years ago when she was cast in Fort McMurray’s Wayawitmayihk Theatre’s production as Jelly.
She describes the production as “quirky and fun.”
“It’s not heavy-handed. It’s a recognition of the importance of family and how relationships evolve and change, and the importance of finding a common ground. It just may be a different ground to what you remember. But it’s all about love.”
