Her Fn 2 Ag a Ma tA an tes SS Hooters serves as reasonable respite | from daily grind by Brian Slater My first impressions of the Little Theatre’s production of Hooters | were formed in the few minutes before the show began as I read the program. The cover informs me that I am about to see an adult comedy, The bikinis in the binoculars, and the title of the play leave little doubt as to the nature of the play’s “adult” content. Gordon Oates” director's notes on page three, however, gave a quite different impression. The notes defined quite nicely Leo Tolstoy’s premise that the aes- thetic merit of a work of art lies in the ability of the work to commu- nicate between the artist and the audience, and that in the case of the evening’s artistic presentation this communication will be achieved with a careful blend of the three basic elements of the pro- duction: the play, the stage, and the actors. I thought for a moment that I was in the wrong theatre waiting for something really deep from Anton Chekov or Eugene O'Neil g with a profound philosophical [im ‘message. Quickly turning to the aaa cover I reassured myself that I was im indeed where I thought I was, com- Baa edy tonight... right? no deep messages... So with all this in mind, the ii lights dimmed and I was off to ™ Cape Cod and Hooters. The script for this play is a very} tightly written adventure of sorts building its humour not so much in the characters as in their interac tion with each other, It builds ar surprisingly complex and quickly |: evolving set of relationships! between the characters that is for the most part strong enough to carry the coarseness of the lan- guage. Yes this is definitely an “adult” script. I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t blush at least a little. The language fit the nature of the characters and the sit- uation they were in. The stage and technical produc- tion of Hooters contained some of the best and worst elements of the The Terrace Inn Northwest Arts And Entertainment Calendar R.E.M. Lee Theatre ‘Nov. 30 — Loreena McKennitt, Celtic singer and harpist, in 1 concert *Gigi’s — Compulsive Reaction Nov. 25-30 — Taxpayers Northern Motor Inn, George's Pub — Until Nov. 23 — Champagne Plus ‘Nov. 24-Dec.14 — Long Gone McColl Playhouse *Nov. 21, 22, 23 - adult comedy Hooters, Cas Saget presented by the Terrace Little Theatre; directed by Gordon Oates 7 Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 13 : *Every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday —.Darts *Every Monday — cribbage at 7;30 p.m. *Every second Thursday — bridge at 7;30 p.m. *Nov. 22-23 — Peter Turner Terrace Public Art Gallery ere rene Until Nov. 29 — Edward Epp presents an exhibit of his 5 oll and \ ecryl paintings of Africa and Eastern Canada Prince Rupert Performing Arts Centre *Nov. 22, 8 p.m. — Tribute to Harry James, presented by the Prince Rupert Concert Society Nov. 29, 8 p.m. — Loreena McKennitt, Celtic singer and harpist *Dec.5,6,7, 7:30 p.m, —- Grease, a Prince Rupert Secondary School production Terrace Review —- Wednesday, November 20, 1991 21 HOOTERS: complex, tunny and up for another run this weekend. production. The set itself made use of a very small space incor- porating two distinct scenes, one inside the Pequod Inn and the other on the beach outside. These worked particularly well together in the second act. The stage man- agement was also well done. The props between scenes were This Column Sponsored By: 4720 Lazelle Ave., Terrace B.C. Ph. 638-0321 Fax 638-0422 lt changed without fuss and the audience was kept unaware of the workings behind the scenes. The lighting however was another matter. In design I found the lights to be quite biased to stage right. This did not play well to the right half of the house causing some problems with blocking and general illumination of the players. There were also some irritating mis-cues in bring- ing up the lights for a couple of scenes. ' The actors in this play were ||. upstaged a little by the script. Their role in the overall mix was toned down a little too much — the emotions were carried by the script, not the actors. The comic effect would be heightened and indeed more credible if Ricky could have been really sensitive to Rhonda’s reasons for leaving school, Clint could really have fallen in love, Rhonda could have gotten really mad at Cheryl or Cheryl could have been really confused about David. More emotional contrast in the delivery of the lines would have added a in Concert Saturday, Nov.30, 8 p.m. R.E.M. Lee Theatre reserved seating $15 tickets at R.E.M. Lee Theatre and Kermodel Trading lot to the presentation. There is a fourth element to the production that I feel was over- looked a little in the director’s notes in the programme, and that is the audience. This is more important in comedy than in other genre of theatre because the audience interacts directly with the cast. When something is funny, they laugh. There is a tremendous amount of energy that the actors can draw on to guide and strengthen their char- acters and their . confidence. Think also of timing; you can’t — hear an actor speak when the audience is in hysterics. All that being said... How was the show?? Well I laughed a lot, my face aches a bit from grinning too much. This show is a step: away from the pathos of the evening news. And message? Wasn’t so heavy, rather a reminder to laugh at our own inability to understand the oppo- site sex and our own sexuality just a little more often.