Shopaholic sequel switches things up
Dating disasters can be great party conversation like say the guy who spends an entire date rhapsodizing about his favourite vegetable (true story). But beyond the horror stories the search for the right person is a heartfelt journey that can be arduous to navigate. Lunchbox Theatre brings us both the laughs and the struggles of the chase in Shopaholic Husband Hunt.
Local playwright Glenda Stirling and local director Johanne Deleeuw have teamed up again to bring the sequel to their 2002 Shopaholic (of no relation to the popular chick-lit series) to stage. Esther Purves-Smith reprises the role of the central character Abby a recovered shopaholic who is now looking for some love in her boyfriend-less 30-something life. For emotional support she has her best friend Joy (Karen Johnson-Diamond) and her former flame (Ryan Luhning) known only as “The One” who is now settled in married life with said best friend. Ouch.
But neither the loss of The One nor the fact that binge shoe-shopping is off limits gets Abby’s irrepressible spirits down. She tells her story directly to the audience with a nice balance of engaging monologues and action. The span of scenes and characters makes it surprisingly rich for its one-hour running time as Abby goes through the demise of a relationship to her use of a premium match-making service and finally to the foray among dubious Internet dating catches.
Purves-Smith’s Abby is fun gabby and slightly neurotic (she rejects one potential suitor for his long incisors another for his stubby thumbs) and she keeps the energy high from beginning to end. She’s the only actor who sticks to a single character though and the others go through many transformations particularly Luhning who plays all of the men. With almost a dozen roles (some admittedly cameo-sized) Luhning’s performance is particularly impressive as it generally doesn’t rely on costume changes or hat-swapping tricks.
This is partially logistical: In by far the funniest segment of the play Luhning whirs through about six characters in half as many minutes. “We’ve decided to differentiate through physicality instead of a proper costume piece” says Luhning. “Each character is so distinct I use things like different postures word cadences to pop in and out of characters.” And it works like a charm. Within seconds you’ve figured out that you’re dealing with a different guy and why he’s destined to be a dud.
Johnson-Diamond has her share of mid-sized roles and her characterizations are solid from somewhat frazzled mom Joy to the charming and helpful wine bar waitress to a high-heeled frostbitingly cold matchmaking maven — it’s easy to forget that the same actor is behind them all.
Performed in the sweetly small Lunchbox Theatre the actors’ greatest strength in this play is their eloquent often hilarious facial expressions. Some of the funniest bits are between — or behind — the dialogue when a certain posture or a raised eyebrow conveys all of the comedy. While some of the one-liners fall flat there are still plenty of zingers worth laughing about.
And guys shouldn’t be scared away by the word “shopaholic.” Male minds might wander a bit during an outfit-picking scene — which is to be fair of some importance to the plot — but the play is funny regardless of audience gender and might even give some insight into the modus operandi of smart funny and successful single women.
Shopaholic is a fun light-hearted production that showcases local talent and would ironically make a great first date.
