Theatre Review: Wingfield’s Inferno not hellish

By Jason McKay

As midterms near their end and there is a bit of a gap in the stress before papers are due, a good comedy can be the perfect thing to help get you through to the end of the semester. This is exactly what Theatre Calgary’s second production of the season, Wingfield’s Inferno, delivers. This one man show starring Rod Beattie starts off with a laugh and keeps them coming right through the entire production.

As you enter the theatre old time piano music tinkles away helping transport you back to small town Canada. The homey atmosphere is enhanced by the simple yet effective stage design. Only three main elements­–all made out of a rustic wood–populate the stage for the entire show.

If the stage design is simply excellent, the acting in this production is superb. Beattie portrays a wide variety of characters on stage from a former Bay Street Banker turned farmer to a simple country girl and even a loveable little pooch named Spike, using nothing more than his voice. Obviously, a one man show lives or dies by how well the one actor is and Beattie shows once again why he is one of the best in Canada. His ability to make even the most boring things humours is the main reason why The Wingfield’s franchise is so successful to merit multiple returns to Calgary for so many years.

In fact, this is the sixth Wingfield production put on by Theatre Calgary; surprisingly, the writing hasn’t slipped a bit from earlier productions. Writer Dan Needles manages to intertwine several key elements into a seamless blend, from the destruction of a key town landmark to the illness of a child. Much of the series rests upon a series of letters from the titular Walt Wingfield to his good friend Ed about life on the farm as a city slicker. While this could easily have been a major flaw to the flow of the production, Needles and Beattie pull it off in genuinely interesting manner, keeping you emerged in the carefully crafted world.

Wingfield’s Inferno is a great break from the tedium of midterms, a great comedy and a must see for any theatre enthusiast.

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