Powerhouse Theatre’s final production of the 2023-24 season is exquisite – promising to provide audiences with all of the warmth and delight of an early evening in late summer.
The Exquisite Hour (opening Wednesday, May 1), written by Edmonton playwright Stewart Lemoine and directed by Tanya Laing Gahr, is a sweet ode to bygone days when the world’s knowledge seemed to be contained in encyclopedias rather than the faster-than-light Internet, and peddled by door-to-door salesmen.
Or in this case, saleswoman.
Helen Darimont (Kristine Larsen) is a chirpy lady in 1962, interrupting pleasant but lonely bachelor Zachary Teale (Paul Philps), late in the afternoon as he sips lemonade in his backyard, to politely ask him for an hour of his time. Over that hour, shy Zack is pulled out of his shell by Helen as they play act scenarios from one volume, and he becomes the open book she reads.
They charm and connect – with each other and with the audience – before the play ends, exquisitely, 60 minutes from where it began.
“I think this is one of the sweetest plays I’ve ever directed,” said Laing Gahr. “Both Zack and Helen are so darling and it’s easy to fall in love with them. But at the core of this play is a reminder that time can slip past us if we’re not paying attention – hours and days and weeks and years – and we don’t get them back.
“We have to seize that moment, step out of our comfort zone and make the most of what time we have available to us.”
The Exquisite Hour is Laing Gahr’s third effort as director with Powerhouse Theatre.
She also directed Calendar Girls in 2018 and Ben Hur in 2022. Both shows were also Powerhouse’s entry for Ozone Festival, the annual community theatre festival for Okanagan-based productions. Calendar Girls went on to win Best Production and Best Director at Mainstage, which celebrates the best of community theatre from around the province.
The Exquisite Hour runs from May 1-4 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinee, May 5, at 2 p.m., and May 8-11 (7:30 p.m.) at Powerhouse Theatre in Vernon. Tickets are available through TicketSeller.