Meet the parents

A young woman tries to bring both sides of
her family together in Having Hope at Home

SLIPPERY WORK: Miller and Gauthier Frankel

by NEIL BOYCE

Hudson Village Theatre found a great match in David S. Craig’s Having Hope at Home, and it worked because a lot of lucky things came together: a country setting, a beautiful theatre that was once a train station, and some sentimental summer fare perfectly suited to strip away city cynicism.

Taking a summer stock job in the country before her busy burlesque schedule in the fall, Holly Gauthier Frankel plays Carolyn Bingham, a nine-months-pregnant young woman trying to bring the people in her life together before the baby arrives.

She’s escaped from her parent’s clutches and now lives with her Québécois lover Michel (Yanick Bousquet) and crusty grandfather Russell (Joel Miller) in grandpa’s converted farmhouse.

Arthritic and perma-cranky, when Russell isn’t going on about how he’ll soon “cross the great divide,” he tries to keep up the house in his less than helpful way. “You’re not useless,” Michel says to gramps, “you’re just useless to me.” He gets a quick reply: “I can do more work than all the Frenchmen in China!”

Russell never gets the anglo expressions quite right—he calls Carolyn a “biscuit case.” She tries to keep her cool when grandpa Russell offers her birthing advice from his years of dealing with cattle: “It’s easy, all you do is grab the front hoof and pull ... it’s slippery work.”

The plot is a well-used device from story, stage and screen: a “guess who’s coming to dinner” build-up centring on the arrival of Carolyn’s parents and culminating in the family feast, where this disparate gang of weirdos all clash around the table.

When her parents arrive and see her dumpy home, their frozen smiles already show what Mom later expresses: “This isn’t cozy, it’s the face of poverty!”

Uptight Jane (Linda Smith) and frowning Dr. Bingham (Andrew Johnston) can’t stand their daughter’s new age-y midwife, Dawn (Carolyn Guillet), and are aghast when they learn she wants to give birth at home.

Christopher Brown’s detailed and convincing set is an example for designers everywhere on how to do it right: the farmhouse in transition looks like the Salvation Army with a hangover. There’s an ugly tartan couch, Gauguin-on-acid wallpaper, black potbelly stove with firewood scattered about, tufts of fibreglass insulation sticking out from every corner, and a door in the floor leading to a basement (perfect for actors who wish to exit with a flourish).

Director Diana Fajrajsl blocks the action beautifully—not easy with a cast of six on a tiny stage—and rivets us to the simple story. But once again, senior actors lead the way, with Smith, Guillet, and most of all the great Joel Miller putting meat on the bones of this light and highly entertaining piece.

SCRIPT IT

Note to playwrights: Infinithéâtre’s second annual Write-on-Q playwriting competition is now looking for new works by Quebec playwrights with original, un-produced English or bilingual scripts. The jury-selected winning play gets $1,000 and a staged reading in the Pipeline ’09 series. Deadline is Sept. 7.

Submit script, cover letter and CV to: Write-on-Q, c/o Infinithéâtre, 5413 St-Laurent, #302, Montréal, QC H2T 1S5. Info: (514) 987-1774, drama@infinithéâtre.com

HAVING HOPE AT HOME TO AUG. 23
AT HUDSON VILLAGE THEATRE
(28 WHARF ROAD, HUDSON).
HVTBOX@VIDEOTRON.CA,
(450) 458-5361