Letters From Wingfield Farm

by Ivy Wigmore

Walt Wingfield has left his gig as a Bay Street stock broker. Disenchanted and seeking to simplify his life, he buys a farm in Persephone Township. As so often happens when we try to simplify, complications ensue. There’s an ironic and laconic strain of humour that seems to pervade rural areas. In Dan Needles’ Letters from Wingfield Farm, the ideological clash between our stock broker and the citizenry of Larkspur provides excellent fodder for that strain of comedy, as Walt and his new neighbours seek to understand each other.

Pygmalion

by Nina Linton

Reviving old classics is nothing new for The Montgomery Theatre but in their recent offering, Pygmalion, the company sets the bar high with outstanding cast performances in a comical collision of socioeconomic classes.

Returning this year in their newly acquired North Rustico venue, the Montgomery Theatre players, under artistic director Duncan McIntosh, with previous positions including Ontario’s Shaw Festival and The Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, take to the stage to recreate George Bernard Shaw’s work, in a fresh and modern production that features both local and imported talent.

Island Stand Up Showcase

by Luke Arbuckle

The Island Standup Showcase kicked off at The Mack with an impressive lineup of acts from some of Prince Edward Island’s leading comedians. A young but seasoned veteran of the Island comedy circuit, Fraser McCallum opened the evening with a few brilliant anecdotes and a hilarious “true Islander” perspective into current events.

The Dating Scheme

by Sean McQuaid

Full disclosure: This reviewer is enduringly fond of the Kings Playhouse, as many of his earliest theatrical memories are rooted in that grand old institution.

Since renovated into a bigger and better version of its former self, the venue has aged considerably better than the reviewer, who nonetheless hauled his superannuated carcass out to Georgetown on July 11 for the world premiere of The Dating Scheme, a play about a couple of Island gals trying to fix their brother up with a friend.

Johnny Belinda

by Jane Ledwell

Elmer Harris’s play Johnny Belinda is an Island story of the kind you are not likely to see elsewhere on the Island this summer, filled with the harshness of Island life as much as with its hope. The play is familiar from screen versions and a mainstage musical adaptation, but, remarkably, Harris’s original play (based on true characters and situations Harris knew as a summer resident at Fortune Bridge) has never had a professional production in Canada—until now. The Montgomery Theatre has mounted a tremendously moving production in North Rustico.

Sketch-22, Season 7

by Sean McQuaid

Watching Sketch-22 is a bit like eating those freaky Every Flavour Beans from the Harry Potter stories: wildly eclectic variety, often delicious, sometimes unpleasant.

The show’s occasional lapses are not for lack of ability. Producer Jason Rogerson, director/star Rob MacDonald and his fellow performers Graham Putnam, Dennis Trainor, Andrew Sprague and Lennie MacPherson include some of PEI theatre’s most gifted and experienced funnymen.