Collision course

A shell-shocked WWII vet and a liberated woman are unlikely companions in Storm Warning

THROWN TOGETHER: Waters and Giverin

By NEIL BOYCE

Norm Foster, while the most produced, most prolific playwright in Canada, makes the kind of play your parents might see at their local community or dinner theatre. He’s a fun night out—but certainly not anything serious theatre goers and critics should pay attention to. Look at this: over 100 Foster productions are being staged this year across Canada. More than 100—and that’s just Canada.

Major papers and theatre-going smarty-pants overlook the New Brunswick writer’s plain stories with great dialogue about family, dreams, lost love and second chances at their own peril, perhaps thinking “Canada’s most popular playwright” is something shameful. Those who love a good story see it differently.

Out at Hudson Village Theatre, actors Daniel Giverin and Heidi Waters are working with director Andrew Johnston on Foster’s Storm Warning, a two-hander set in the early ’50s. Jack Forrester is a damaged World War II vet living as a hermit in cottage country. Into his life one weekend walks Emma Currie, an amphetamine-popping chart writer for a big band. Sparks ensue.

“It’s been fantastic,” says Montreal actor Giverin, reflecting on a typical day at work. “We come in, run our lines and run through the whole emotional factory. Andrew gives us pointers here and there, we work out the blocking and make the story clearer.”

About the characters, Giverin says, “His co-star calls him an army wash-out. He fought in the war and has a bit of shell-shock to work through. Emma is this souped-up ’50s chick who walks into Jack’s world—a brassy girl from New York.”

“It’s actually fascinating for a Norm Foster play,” he continues, “because he usually goes for straight-ahead laughs and fun. It’s almost like he made a turn here, to take his audience on a bigger emotional journey.”

“There’s lots of laughter in the rehearsal hall,” says Waters. “It’s a lot of work, but I’m having such a great time, I hardly notice it.

“Emma is strong and confident,” she says, “a free spirit for a woman of 1953. She has a few dependency problems, but that just adds colour to her character. Jack is mysterious. A quiet, intriguing man who you want to know more about—somebody who’s been hurt a lot in the past, I suppose.”

“I put out a pretty broad call-out to agents,” says Johnston on casting the show, “and looked at all the people who came through the door. These two had a certain ease with each other. I was drawn to their versions of the characters at the first audition; at the call-back, it was even more clear.

“They were diligent about doing a lot of homework before the first day of rehearsal,” he adds, “so when they came in, they were ready to fly. We were able to dive in and go in-depth early in the rehearsal process.”

About Foster, Johnston adds, “There’s a depth of character here that I haven’t seen perhaps in any of his other plays. The characters have real challenges and are faced with very human struggles ... that adds a lot of dimension to what otherwise could have been a fairly superficial romp.”