Lighthouse Theatre aims for fun this season
For actress Lisa Norton, Port Dover offers a breath of fresh air.
Living in Toronto, she’s happy to trade the hurly-burly there for Dover’s less hectic pace. She’s not at all unhappy either that her Lighthouse Festival show, Mark Crawford’s comedy “The Birds and the Bees” is a funny play.
“It’s summer theatre, right? So let’s not be snobbish about it. Mostly we’re talking about plays that are funny and give you some laughs.
“I’ve performed all over,” Norton says “and theatre is theatre. When you have committed actors, a good director and great production values, you just know the show is going to be good.”
This summer, from May 30 to June 16, Norton is in an outrageous comedy about a bee keeper and a turkey farmer who run “a fowl” of each other.
Norton loves theatre days in Dover. “A great beach, friendly folk on the streets and amazing little stores, that’s what makes it a good place to spend time. There’s even a good play to go to. Now that’s my idea of a great day.”
Born in Toronto, Norton realized she had a knack for acting. “I just believed I could do it. I was told, ‘Have something to fall back on.’”
“But you know, that’s not a great idea. If you have a tough time getting an acting gig you could easily go to your fallback position. What you really need to do in the lean days is just keep on trying.”
Like Norton, Lighthouse Theatre’s artistic director Derek Ritschel loves Dover. “I was doing a lot of television and I was ready to get back on the stage. In 2002 I got a part in a show at The Lighthouse called “Heat Wave.” I’d never even heard of Port Dover back then, but I soon fell in love with the place and I’ve just never left.”
Ritschel became artistic director in 2011. He’s directed 10 main stage plays, appeared on stage in 280 of them and been involved in more than 600 Dover productions. He plans his Dover seasons a year and a half ahead. “We mostly do Canadian comedies. This is summer theatre, after all, and people come to have a good time, not to solve the problems of the world.”
Ritschel admits, “There’s no play that everyone is going to like. But we hit the mark most times out. I figure if 80 per cent of our audience goes out grinning, that’s good.”
This summer Ritschel is directing two Dover shows, “Stage Fright,” (July 18 to Aug. 4) a comedy by Robin Hawdon, and Willy Russell’s “Educating Rita” (Sept. 5 to 22). “Stage Fright” is set in a luxurious Riviera Hotel where a diamond bracelet, belonging to a slightly faded film star, goes missing. This is the play’s North American première,” Ritschel says. “And it stars Melodee Finlay, a Dover favourite.”
Canada’s favourite playwright, Norm Foster, has a new comedy called “Screwball.” (June 20 to July 11). It’s about a budding reporter trying to break into a male-dominated newspaper world. The idea for the play came when Ritschel and Foster were talking about the old screwball comedies produced in Hollywood in the 1930s.
“The play was born from that conversation,” Ritschel says. “It throws a real curveball, offering a different take on contemporary humour.”
A Foster comedy is always sure to get bums on seats, so order early for this one.
Ritschel’s own comedy, “Fair and Square,” runs Aug. 8 to 25. It’s about unexpected changes. “It’s about meeting something different head-on. It’s funny, but there’s an underscore of truth here that is touching as well.”
“Every so often you have to take a risk with something a little different,” Ritschel says, “and ‘Educating Rita’ is my risk play for this season. It stars Brad Rudy and Sharon Currie and it’s a moving comedy about a teacher and a pupil who discover something special in each other.” (Sept. 5 to 22).
The main stage season closes with “Dean and Jerry: What Might Have Been.” (Sept. 25 to 29) Here, playwright Jesse Collins takes a look at what might have happened if Martin and Lewis hadn’t split up. It stars Derek Marshall from the Rat Pack era musical “Vegas Knights” and Nicholas Arnold.
Both Ritschel and Norton have worked in major regional theatres. They both find Dover unique. They both say people come to Dover to have a good time.
“You know, I’ve done the big summer theatre thing. I played Jackie in ‘Hay Fever,’ and Millie in ‘Picnic’ at the Shaw Festival. And that was great. But good theatre is good theatre wherever you happen to see it.”
Hamilton audiences may well remember Norton as Margot in Theatre Aquarius’s “The Diary of Anne Frank” and Ritschel’s direction of the Aquarius production of Norm Foster’s “Mending Fences.” Right now though, they want you to join them at a theatre that’s near the sand. They want you to have a great day in Dover, maybe eat some perch at the Cove Room in the Erie Beach Hotel, maybe walk on the beach, maybe have a Golden Glow at the Arbor then laugh yourself silly at the Lighthouse Festival Theatre.