Some of the cast from At Your Service include, from left: Terri Swain as Mrs. Ryan, Erin Elliott as Frances, Kyle Saunders as Mr. Tobin, and Randy Crane as Mr. Ryan. The dinner theatre comedy is playing Thursdays and Fridays at the Southern Shore Folk Arts Building in Ferryland.
By Craig Westcott
It’s the 25th season for the Southern Shore Dinner Theatre in Ferryland and the troupe is back with a combination of new faces and seasoned experience to generate the laughs.
It would actually be the 26th season for the popular playhouse of homespun humour if Covid hadn’t stolen a season.
This year’s play is At Your Service, written by Ferryland’s Annette Mooney.
“It’s proved to be a very successful play,” said Southern Shore Folk Arts executive director Keith Mooney. “And we have a good cast. It’s a good production, I must say.”
The story focuses on the relationship between boarding house matron Mrs. Ryan and Francis, a young maid from Onion Cove, whom she takes “in service,” as the employment of young women in Newfoundland used to be called years ago. The setting is the 1940s – 50s when many young women and girls from the outports took jobs with families, boarding houses and businesses in larger centres.
“Mrs. Ryan is trying to raise the level with her guests and then she hires Francis and Francis is a bit rough around the edges,” said Mooney. “And that makes for the humour.”
The cast of guests and other characters, such as the local Bishop, also serve to spice up the plot.
“Some of the stuff Francis gets on with is funny,” said Mooney. “Francis is a young girl and Mrs. Ryan wants to improve her table skills and how to greet guests, so she hires a teacher to give her some instruction.”
It’s the first time the troupe has performed the play since 2011.
“People our age relate to the era when life was different and simpler,” said Mooney.
Francis is played by Erin Elliott, a recent graduate of Memorial University’s Fine Arts Program in Corner Brook.
Mrs. Ryan is played by Terri Swain of Renews.
“It’s her first time acting,” said Mooney. “She worked with us in the dinner theatre on the floor serving, which a very important part of it too, but this year she wanted to try out for a role.”
Other actors include local dinner theatre veterans Randy Crane, Andy Malone, Matilda Mulcahy, and Kyle Saunders from Glovertown.
“We’ve always had actors from outside the area,” said Mooney. “There’s probably one or so more this year.”
The director is Beth Ryan, who has lots of experience with the troupe having served as assistant director to the late former long-time director and actor Kevin Lewis.
“This is her first time directing,” said Mooney, “but she has the big advantage of having acted in the play herself. She knows what everyone is capable of doing and she knows all the characters, so that’s a big plus.”
The plays run every Thursday and Friday evening during the summer up to Labour Day week, with four matinees scheduled, the next one being July 29. Mooney said the Folk Arts Council is open to staging more matinees for groups interested in visiting Ferryland. Anyone interested in doing that can contact Mooney at the Ferryland Folk Arts Council at 432-2052.
