Almost a Love Story
August 1 2010
Lantern Church Gym
After seeing this piece – written and directed by the Calgary Sun’s Louis B. Hobson – it’s easy to understand why it placed first at the provincial one-act play festival this year in Whitecourt. What a lovely sensitive show. The script is tight and the story engaging.
Almost a Love Story tells about 20-year-old Daniel (Sean-Paul Boynton) who discovers his late father David (Greg Spielman) was having an affair. What’s more his lover was a man – Callum (Neil Hardy). This sends Daniel into a tailspin of anger and questions as to his father’s true identity. So he confronts Callum to find out.
Meanwhile the audience sees how desperately in love Callum was with David and how broken he is over his death. Despite the considerable age difference between the two men the chemistry is much stronger between Callum and David than between David and his wife Ellie (Anne Hodgson). (Interesting considering the actors playing Callum and David are straight. I guess that’s why it’s called acting!) There was obvious (and awkward) tension in the audience each time Callum and David looked deeply into each others’ eyes and I could sense everybody wondering “Are they actually going to kiss?”
Adding some humour to the production is Alan Walsh with his portrayal of “Auntie Henry” an aging queen who loves to sing show tune excerpts to explain life situations. As he says/sings “Life is a cabaret.” He encourages Callum to let David go and also helps him face Daniel. Walsh drew all of the laughs and speaking from a woman’s perspective he is cute as anything in the production – the kind of person you’d love for your “bestie.”
I only have a couple of criticisms of the show neither of which takes away from the piece as a whole. First I found the space constrains the staging. The actors – who are sitting on chairs upstage of the main playing area awaiting their “turns” – seem to get in the way of the actual action. The other thing is some of Daniel and Ellie’s anger over David’s affair seems a bit forced. My only other criticism and this is a pet peeve of mine is the bit of “navel gazing” about acting in the show. Thankfully only a touch though.
All-in-all a touching love story – I’ll dispense with the “almost” – that save for Auntie Henry does not re-enforce gay stereotypes. It’s also one of those shows where you can’t help but pick sides. In four words: “Go see this one!”
