Boom at the inn

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This article was published 26/09/2024 (750 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To play multiple roles is a hallmark of small-town living, a setting in which the driving instructor, the cattle farmer, the hockey coach and the hydroelectric worker are often a single Jack of all trades.

In playwright Mark Crawford’s Bed & Breakfast, a charming two-act comedy, an unmarried gay couple opens up to play themselves, the barista, her wife and the gruff handyman, along with their parents, a pair of newlyweds, a more-than-bicurious British couple, a prudish nanny, a realtor who’s always werking, a nephew who doesn’t know, a teenager who’s beginning to understand and a sweetly loud-mouthed mother who repeatedly and hilariously takes the lord’s name in vain.

And oh my God, was it ever nice to hear such laughter on opening night of the 52nd season at Prairie Theatre Exchange.

Crawford’s central figures are interior designer Brett (Kyle Golemba) and hotelier Drew (Amir Haidar), who have tried for years to make their dreams come true in Toronto despite the city’s untenable real-estate market.

When they’re awakened by the shocking news of a relative’s death, they make a swift re-entry into an environment that’s led stronger couples to break apart.

It’s a credit to both Crawford’s balanced script and director Rob Kempson’s smooth handling of the material that Golemba and Haidar are granted the opportunity to excel. Playing more than one substantive role is a towering challenge for any performer that can often lead to confusion for scene partners and audience members alike, but Golemba and Haidar make the two-hour stay more than comfortable, balletically establishing separate physiologies and vocalities to ensure clarity, subtle recognition and powerful comedy.

Golemba’s strongest gestural work is in managing his characters’ interactions with their own restraints: he nervously twists invisible strands of hair and pulls a perfect espresso as Allison, the kind-hearted barista. As Dustin, a teenager who is figuring himself out, the Regina-born actor carries an unseen backpack, adjusting his straps in an attempt to wriggle free. As Ray, a big-city realtor, Golemba magically renders his jeans two sizes too small, giving his character a noticeably stiff-legged gait.

The Toronto-based Haidar is also a gifted impressionist in the Stanley Tucci school, a compliment unrelated to his shaved head. As Brett’s father Martin, Haidar slips into a perfect Scorsese; as the leather-jacketed lesbian Chris, he calls to mind Colin Farrell. As the newlyweds Travis and Alexis, Haidar alternates between drunken Valley Girl and Letterkenny extra; with Travis, the most dead-eyed, dead-headed character in the show, his stance is enough for the audience to immediately understand what type of man he is. Doug, Haidar’s handyman, is imbued with stony rigidity.

The small-town bed-and-breakfast setup is by no means a fresh concept. But by introducing the constraint of multi-character work, Crawford gives the tired narrative arc a new heartbeat.

With terrific running jokes, especially ones about Rick Mercer, Anne Murray and k.d. lang, Bed & Breakfast is palatable and challenging fare well-suited for boomer listeners of CBC Radio One and babes who’ve listened to CBC Radio once.

As the production’s lighting designer, Michelle Ramsay has her work cut out for her, but manages to clearly evoke character transformation and shifts in tone, making the job of the audience feel less like work and more like play. Bedside sconces and a table lamp add hominess, while strategically deployed spot and crosslights allow the actors to pull off the sleight of hand necessary to switch back and forth between bodies without leaving the room or changing costumes.

That said, Joyce Padua’s set — a warm combination of forest green and walnut — is constructed in such a way that the actor have a quick-change room by virtue of a semi-enclosed entryway, granting both actors occasional opportunities for solo stage work and heavy breathing.

La-Nai Gabriel and Christie Heriot’s sound design and original compositions are earmarked by a touch of Marvin Hamlisch and a recurrent loon call, pairing with Ramsay’s lighting as signposts for forthcoming revelations about shame, acceptance and genuine surprise.

Bed & Breakfast is worth the trip, with or without reservations.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com