Civic’s latest filled with holes - 18 of them to be precise
Don’t worry: “The Foursome” is not, essentially, about golf.
It does take place on a golf course; the scene settings are various tee boxes. And it does feature a foursome of old college buddies.
Yet Norm Foster’s 1998 Canadian comedy is actually about male bonding and the subjects that men like to talk about while women aren’t around.
Hint: Feelings are extremely low on the list. Sarcastic put-downs are extremely high.
“The Foursome” is actually a satirical comedy about men and their various obsessions and insecurities. According to one Canadian reviewer, the women in the audience enjoyed the play as much, or more, than the men.
“They seem to revel in the insights to the male psyche that Foster satirizes: the one-upsmanship, the put-downs, the sarcasm, the emotional handicaps, the fantasies and the insecurities about sex,” wrote Morton Fogsangler, an online critic reviewing a production in Hamilton, Ont.
The Spokane Civic Theatre’s Firth Chew Studio Theatre production will have the advantage of being directed by a woman, Civic vet Melody Deatherage (recently seen in the title role of “Mame”).
A woman director “brings a balance of perspective that keeps things honest,” she said in a press release.
She’ll be directing the male foursome of Dave Rideout, Brad Picard, Mike Hynes and Jerry Uppinghouse.
Each character has his secrets.
By the 18th hole, many of those secrets will be revealed.
And many one-liners will be delivered as well.
Norm Foster has a reputation as “one of the funniest writers in intelligent Canadian theater today,” according to the Calgary Herald.
He has written more than 40 plays since 1980, including “The Affections of May” and “The Melville Boys.”
He’s also a well-respected actor in Canada.
In fact, when “The Foursome” was produced at the Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ont., Foster played the role of Ted.
In an interview on his website, www.normfoster.com, he said he strives to give his comedies a serious undertone.
“I find it far more satisfying if I can make an audience laugh and feel a little heartache within the same story,” he said.