Community theatre group, the Phoenix Players staged a comic whodunit this past weekend in Virden’s Aud Theatre. Directed by Jennifer Glendinning, (also leading lady), “Arlene’s Beauty World” brought the audience along in this light but entertaining offering.
Eleven actors included Iris Munchinsky (Gerty Poindexter); Maureen Senff (Abigail); Donna George (Beulah Tarkington); Diane Burke (Nevy); George Baker (Detective Dirk Cannon); Monele LeStrat (Officer O’Malley); Suzanne Dunning (Helga Von Schtompken); Jennifer Glendinning (Janis/play’s director ); Bob Senff (Chester); Kel Smith (Maurice); Taylor LeStrat (a young Helga Von Schtompken).
If you missed a line, you missed a lot of rapid-fire humour.
While every character was deeply into their funny roles, friends and neighbours would do a double take at Dunning who cleverly played a broad-bottomed and very proper German oma (grandma).
From time to time, characters stepped out of Arlene’s Beauty World to address the Aud audience.
Baker, a trench-coated cigarette-smoking Bogart style detective, and Monele LeStrat as his beautiful, tough-as-nails side-kick police officer were highly entertaining with deadpan humour.
The actors had background help from Larry Gabrielle (lighting/sound); Joanne Baker (tickets/programs); Karl De Paepe (front of the house). George Baker supplied the artwork/posters and Diane Burke doubled as prompter.
Fourteen sponsors supported this Virden entertainment that had a small audience chuckling from start to finish at the kooky characters and zany lines.
