When two bungling bank robbers desperate for a hideout interrupt the weekly bridge game of four suburban matrons, the stage is set for a cornucopia of comic capers and entertaining exchanges.
Carolyn Lane’s scene play “You Can’t Be Too Careful” relies on the evolving nature of the relationship between the gun-totin’ crooks – one with a nice face – and their hostages.
As the ladies grow aware that their cack-handed captors, Smith and Jones, know less about the crime industry than they do, they devise way to outsmart them. And they even throw in some counselling to the duo on leading more productive lives. The 11 actors of Emmanuel Reformed Church of Neerlandia Young People’s Society extracted all the comic potential of the script during two inspired performances on March 28 and 29 at the Covenant Canadian Reformed School.
No doubt this was aided by the relaxed rapport between cast and audience.
Perhaps this was down to the informal setting of the theatre, partitioned off from the main dining area.
Or perhaps it was because of a convivial atmosphere bred by the pre-show banquet and delicious desserts at intermission, or because the actors are well known in the community.
Whatever the reasons, the audience was engaged from the outset, and the young cast delivered their lines faultlessly and with wonderful aplomb. Sometimes it took only a facial expression or a gesture to achieve the desired effect.
By the end there was even a touch of pathos in the sight of the bumbling robbers being escorted off stage by a police officer.
Whoever invented the term “armed and dangerous” did not have this hapless duo in mind. It even transpired that Jonesie, the one with the nice face, had emptied the guns before he and his partner had embarked on their doomed escapades.
As the actors received a well-earned standing ovation at the end, directors Beatrice Tiemstra and Joy Wierenga were called up on stage to receive bouquets. The play’s success resulted from a team effort, which included those who set up the stage, helped with decorations, lent props and made the ladies’ hats.
The play was also a fund-raiser for the Pregnancy Care Centre in Edmonton, which tries to help people facing an unwanted pregnancy.
Two days after the play, the amount raised was put at over $5,000, although not all the bills had been submitted.
