Review: Teatro’s On the Banks of the Nut a delightfully funny farce

There are numerous lessons — and just as many laughs — available for the audience in playwright Stewart Lemoine’s latest confection, On the Banks of the Nut.

Article content

Article content

Lesson number one: There is no shame in giving off mixed signals in love. Indeed, without the drama inspired by a lover who runs distinctly hot and cold, life at a rural Wisconsin inn circa 1951 would be dreary at best.

Article content

Lesson number two: Have courage in matters of the menu. Though appearing stiff at first, a jellied consommé may later prove an aphrodisiac.

As for the laughs, well, you’ll want to discover them for yourself as Teatro Live! presents its third iteration of Lemoine’s screwball comedy, on stage at the Varscona until June 15.

Article content

Directed by Lemoine and starring a sparkling and energetic cast of five, On the Banks of the Nut takes a detailed look at the issue of talent — how to define it, how to nurture it, and what to do when it lands with a plunk in your lap. As the two-hour production (including intermission) opens, a spirited secretary named Norine Cuthbert (Bella King) from the temp agency Inkwell has arrived at the office of Pinkerton Sprague (Sam Free in his Teatro debut). She’s not sure what the job will involve, and neither is her boss, the newly installed and determinedly hapless federal talent agent in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The two put their well-coiffed heads together to come up with a plan of action and are soon on their way to a country inn alongside the Nut River in search of someone with a rare talent for who-knows-what.

Article content

Article content

Naturally, a dizzying set of improbable circumstances rooted in a symphony by Mahler has drawn two lovers to the same rural retreat. A little backstory to set the scene: while attending a classical music concert in Chicago, Wisconsin innkeeper Vivien Phlox (Rachel Bowron) falls briefly in love with gloomy orchestra member Ingo Flussveld (Mathew Hulshof), who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mahler himself. She tracks him down post-concert (Lemoine has a penchant for the simmering libido that doubtless plagued mid-century ladies in the American Midwest) but later regrets the assignation. Vivien flees the big city for the rustic refuge (bathtub located just down the hall) that she runs on the banks of the Nut River. But it’s too late for Ingo.

“I will woo her until I no longer exist,” is his melancholy response to the rejection. He mopes, peeling potatoes, on the banks of the Nut, hoping Vivien will have a change of heart.

Article content

Meanwhile, hotel guest Sylvia Partangle (Karen Johnson Diamond) has arrived hoping for nothing more than the chance to have a hot bath and read the complete works of Mazo de la Roche. (The latter reference tickled me no end, addicted as I was to the Canadian writing sensation as a precocious early reader of adult material readily available at the public library. I must point out that there is no book within the Whiteoaks of Jalna series titled I Left It At Jalna, in case you go to the show and wonder about that.) But Miss Partangle is in for a less-than-restful vacay when Mr. Sprague takes a more-than-passing interest in her Sears catalogue bathrobe. And we are off!

As befits the screwball comedy, On the Banks of the Nut teeters on the edge of a delightful disaster. While the first act is slow, things pick up after intermission with sight gags galore (doesn’t everybody love a really big sandwich?), passionate kisses and little white lies that come back to bite big-time. Hulshof, pulling at his mop of hair in agony when he’s not sitting atop a ladder in an act of protest, is hilarious as Ingo. Free was clearly born to play a Lemoine character; he delivers the deft dialogue with a smooth and soothing voice, his face blandly serene as chaos reigns around him. Leona Brausen’s costumes are perfect; I kept waiting for Vivien to bust right out of the dress in which she served hotel guests a questionable meal. Though tightly belted, the fabric was loose and shiny enough to offer delicious hints at what was underneath.

Article content

Which, by the way, is another life lesson by Lemoine presented in On the Banks of the Nut. Things are never quite what they seem, so think twice before you sit on the lid of a trunk.

Review

On the Banks of the Nut

Theatre: Teatro Live!

Playwright: Stewart Lemoine

Director: Stewart Lemoine

Featuring: Sam Free, Bella King, Rachel Bowron, Mathew Hulshof, Karen Johnson Diamond

Where: Varscona Theatre 10329 83 Ave.

When: Through June 15

Tickets: From $25 available at teatrolive.com or by calling 780-433-3399

Article content