The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Local theatre troupe Ham Sandwich returns to the stage next week with tongue planted firmly in cheek. First-time director Tom Heine describes It Was a Dark and Stormy Night as a spoof on the classic horror movies of yesteryear. "There are lots of shadows, lots of popcorn moments where you sort of supposedly get a big scare," he says. The plot centres around Ye Old Wayside Inn, which is operated by the Saltmarshs Ð Hepzibah (Beth Heine), Arabella (Marilyn Jackson) and the eccentric Ebenezer (Buz Trevor). A storm ultimately forces a group of colourful characters to remain at the inn, and the play becomes a guessing game of who will make it through the night. Along the way, the audience is introduced to Uncle Silas (John Taylor), the oldest man in Massachusetts at 113; the bumbling Officer Snell (Nick Fidler); and Mary Shaw (Shaleen Baribeau), an antique collector who doesn't believe in paying for her items. "One thing I've been trying to do," says Heine, "is to pull the audience in so that they're looking in, or basically eavesdropping, on something that is fairly realistic, even though you wouldn't get anything like this story happening in real life. "I'm concerned a lot more on character development, on the delivery of the story to make it as much a learning experience for the performers as it is an enjoyable product to watch for the audience." It was a Dark and Stormy Night will be performed next Thursday and Friday, April 7 and 8, at the R.H. Channing Auditorium beginning at 7:30 p.m. sharp.
