Small-town suspicions swirl about suburban sorcery in an upcoming production by the Driftwood Players. Two Witches, No Waiting is a two-act comedy authored in 2014 by Texas playwright Pat Cook that struck a chord with director Marissa Fischer, in her Driftwood directorial debut.
“I stepped in because I really wanted us to see us staging it,” reflected Fischer. “I just thought it was so well-written and so funny. It’s a very snappy social comedy — and it’s got witches.”
The show — which opens on Nov. 1 at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons — also contains a subtle ecological message. The setting’s South Texas home, occupied by two sisters, is built atop a natural spring at risk of commercial exploitation. “If you can find a way to view the play as microcosmic of larger global concerns and themes, then you transcend it being just a frivolous comedy,” explained Fischer.
The plot revolves around questions of identity: are eccentric sisters Arlene (played by Monica Davis) and Elzbeth (Anna Diehl) dabbling in the dark arts? The skittish sheriff sent to investigate the rumours was originally written as a male part, but Driftwood regular Mary Beth Pongrac transformed the character.
“When I auditioned, I tried the sheriff as a female,” said Pongrac. “Now instead of Jebediah Abercrombie, I play the part as Jess, a woman.” During auditions, Fischer deliberately disregarded the playwright’s notes on characters’ genders or ages.
The importance of belonging is another key theme of the production, according to Nicky Morgan (who portrays Opal, a garrulous housekeeper). “There are people who belong and then there are people who want to belong to a family, a community, a house,” said Morgan. “The house [in the play] has a personality of its own, and there are those who feel like they belong and those who don’t.”
“In a sense it mimics what’s happening on the Sunshine Coast right now, with property values and developers wanting to get people out,” added Anna Diehl.
Larry Musser, who depicts the aspiring property developer Eustace Sternwood, also sees materialism as central to the story’s theme. “Greed is what’s driving so much division, particularly in the United States or Canada. The [majority] of people are struggling and scrabbling to earn a living, and I represent the avarice of the play.”
The presence of eccentric characters reminded cast members of real-life local personalities. “My character is a little odd, perhaps, but it doesn’t mean she’s off or dense,” said Diehl. “And there are people living on the Sunshine Coast who are odd. In that way I see it mimicking the Sunshine Coast community.”
For Nicole Iversen, who plays the daughter of Musser’s Eustace, comic fun is central to the production’s appeal — especially for those who recall the marriage of domesticity and supernatural hijinks in television’s Bewitched. “Even if I weren’t in it, I’d definitely come see it, maybe a couple of times, because it’s something right up my alley,” said Iversen.
Melissah Charboneau and Ean Henninger (in his first performance at the Heritage Playhouse) both appeared this summer in the Driftwood staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Rockwood Pavilion. “I lean toward slapstick comedy,” admitted Charboneau, who embodies a housekeeper romantically entangled with the son (Henniger) of one of the suspected witches. “But suddenly I’m playing the straight man to Ean’s insanity. It’s not usually the role I take, but I’m flexing new muscles to grow as a performer.”
Despite its Hallowe’en-infused hilarity, Henninger observed that the plot is grounded in values that bind neighbours together. “It’s a nice reminder that there are more important things in life than your career or material acquisitions,” he observed. “And it’s fun.”
Tickets ($25) for nine performances of Two Witches, No Waiting (Nov. 1 through 17) are on sale now at driftwoodplayers.ca, and at Fong’s Market, MELOmania, the Earth Fair Bookstore, and Sechelt Visitor Centre.
