Alfred Pfeifer and Margot Maria Paar
From a Production Staged by The Kleines Theatre
Photo by Willi Schnöll

Victoria Playhouse:
Official Site

Maryjane Cruise:
Official Site

Separate Beds by Maryjane Cruise: Victoria Playhouse Petrolia

by Brian Hay

The first thing that has to be said about this production is that the cast is great!

As Ernie Fraser, Ralph Small portrays a man who is discouraged, somewhat disillusioned, stiflingly conservative and laughably crude. He's also the biggest fashion disaster since polyester pants. The plaid ones. The man is right over the top with his buffoonery. He's also honest to a fault and deeply compassionate. As Blake Stone he's filled with aspirations, style conscious and prone to making a show of the various facets of his life. He's caught up in (delusions of) his own grandeur and willing to push integrity aside to elevate his status.

As Twink Fraser, Mary Long plays a woman that's meek, a little whiny, more than a little mousy and loyal to a fault. She wears everything that makes middle-aged women look less than youthful and she's the Queen of Cheese. But she's a complete sweetheart at the bottom of it. Beth is refined and well spoken. She's the portrait of style but wears it like the old trying to look young. She's also disillusioned and disheartened. She's a woman whose dreams have collapsed. All she wants at this point is what she already had.

Both of these actors are superb in all of their portrayals. Each of the characters they play is the polar opposite of the other. Small captures the rough edges of "Ernie" and the suave stateliness inherent in "Blake". He also captures their other facets. He revels in the arrogance of "Blake" while basking in the integrity of "Ernie". He can live inside this character and it shows. Mary Long is stunning in the roles of "Twink" and "Beth". She brought such differences to the characters that it was hard to see that they were played by a single woman. Their dialect was different. Their diction was different. And their body language was substantially different. What was remarkable was that she was equally at ease with both sets of mannerisms. Her performance was amazing.

The production wasn't without its faults though. The play (by Maryjane Cruise) itself is insightful into the (mostly psychological) problems specific to people of both the upper and lower middle class. It also makes some scathing statements about human nature but does so in a way that's witty and endearing as opposed to dark. But, there were times when it seemed to be begging for a third character. Parts of the staging lacked flow and the action bogged down as a result. The sets, by Stephen Degenstein, (occasionally) seemed constricted, as if the characters were confined to small quarters rather than on board a large cruise ship. More movement from the characters might have alleviated that. That could have been stressed by Director, Walter Learning. The lighting, by Louise Guinand, occasionally seemed stark. Again, more movement on stage could have drawn attention away from that.

But these are small complaints. The pace picked up as the story unfolded. The story was loaded with humour and drama. The characters were comical but came across as real people and their stories could have been those of anyone from the audience.

This may be flawed but it's well worth seeing.

"Separate Beds" runs from July 22, 2008 through to August 9, 2008 at the Victoria Playhouse in Petrolia, Ontario. It runs again at Theatre Orangeville from October 23, 2008 through to November 9, 2008. This review refers to the performance that took place at the Victoria Playhouse on Saturday July 26, 2008.