Summerside theatre company ventures into the farcical dark with its 3rd production

Summerside's Seaside Theatre Company is just a little over a year old, but it's already staging its third play, called Black Comedy.

Described as a "British farce with a twist," the play hit the stage at MacAulay Performing Arts Centre on Thursday and will run through Sunday, May 4.

After only two Seaside productions, director Stuart Smith said people have been lining up to audition.

"Every show, we get a few more people showing interest. The first show we did, we had a few people audition, then we had to go around and ask some people, 'Would you come audition for us?'" he said. 

"By the third one... we had way more people than we could give roles to."

Smith said he chose to stage Black Comedy because he was interested in Sir Peter Shaffer's work, having written a thesis on the playwright who created Equus and Amadeus.

"This is his only farce, so we had done a murder mystery, and then we had done sort of a romantic drama in the fall, and it just felt like it was time to add a comedy," he said. 

"I love farces, so I went back to Peter and decided to stage the one farce he wrote."

A farce with a literally dark twist

Traditional British farce seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant or absurd, and that certainly describes Black Comedy, written in 1965.

"Black Comedy is about a sculptor who is trying to impress his father-in-law by having a famous millionaire to come in and buy his works," Smith said.

"Great, but the problem is the power goes off, and not only does the colonel come in, the father, but an ex-girlfriend shows up in the dark, and things start spinning out of control from that moment onward."

That isn't the only twist, though.

"What happens here is that when the stage lights are on, the characters think they're in the dark. But when the stage lights are off, they think they can see," Smith said.

"So the play starts in darkness, real darkness for the audience, but then the power goes off, the lights come on and we get to see the characters, for the next 70 minutes, try to get out of complications that we can see are going on and they can't."

'Interesting layer of complication'

Performing without lights presents its own challenges.

"It's definitely been a challenge to pretend that you don't see the person right next to you, to pretend you're not seeing the table you're almost bumping into. So it's added an interesting layer of complication, I guess, to the acting piece," said cast member Ashley Vautour.

Another actor, Carol-Anne Luddington, is performing on the stage for the first time.

"When this theatre group opened, they were very welcoming, but I wanted to do kind of behind the scenes first, so this is my first time being on stage for this production," she said. "I'm a little nervous, but it's a really fun production.

"I've seen us practise three months now and I laugh every time we watch it, so I think people will really enjoy it."

Time for a laugh

"We had chosen this long before certain elections were held, so it kind of worked out well with the timing," said Smith. "I'm glad we're not doing a dark drama right now, that's for sure. I think that a little bit of serendipity means that we have a good show for the times."

Interviewed on CBC's Mainstreet before the run began on Thursday, some cast members said they have mixed feeling looking toward the upcoming show.

"I can't wait for everybody to see it because, like I said, it's hilarious and I think people will have a really good time and I'm excited to be a part of it," Luddington said.

"I'd say a mixture of pride and sadness, because there's always an excitement that comes with putting on a show but a little bit of a sadness where you know that, all those rehearsals and the late nights practising your lines are coming to an end," Vautour said. "It's very bittersweet."

Diverging stress levels

As for Smith, he said the best way to get over those feeling is to look at what's up next.

"I always kind of joke that ... the closer it comes to production, my stress levels goes down as the actors' rise, to some degree," he said.

"It is bittersweet. The way to get around that, though, is to start to thinking about what's going to happen next, and so that's one thing that keeps us going."

Smith said he's proud of the work his group has done since its founding.

"I think the people we've had have all been taking it seriously, but not too serious. We always have good laughs, but they all work hard and they want to do the best show they possibly can," he said.

"It's just been a great bonding experience and just we have a lot of laughs, it's really a positive thing."