The screeching sound of tires, the crashing of metal, and painful cries in the dark set the tone in the dramatic opening moments of Fishing Buddies, the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s submission for the Eastern Ontario Drama League (EODL) One Act Festival.
With the audience crowded into the Gwen Brown Studio like sardines, there’s a claustrophobic closeness as the lights go up to reveal broken car parts — and two battered and bleeding men on the stage.
Not quite the serene scene of afternoon fishing that I had imagined when I heard the title. This is just the first of a number of twists that the audience will experience in this well-crafted one-act play.
An original production written and directed by Geoff Hewitson and Chuck Vollmar, Fishing Buddies was originally presented in Peterborough in 2012, and now returns to compete at the EODL One Act Festival, which will be held in Kingston from November 7th to 9th at the Domino Theatre.
After a series of behind-the-scenes problems during the infancy of the show, Hewitson and Vollmar were brought in only a matter of weeks ago to oversee the production, putting together the play in only a matter of weeks.
The results are astounding, and a true testament to the talents of the cast and crew. A powerful and well-crafted production, you’d never believe that this play was pieced together in only a short period of time.
Featuring Christopher Spear in the role of Carl and Justin Boyd in the role of Rick, Fishing Buddies is the story of a horrendous accident on a Northern Ontario highway in which two strangers become injured and trapped in a deep ravine. Immediately confrontational and suspicious of one other, the two men fight with each other while depending on one another for survival. As their personal stories unfold, they soon discover that fate may have brought them together on that abandoned stretch of highway — and their destinies may be more entwined then they first thought.
In what is an overall intense play, Spear and Boyd give powerful performances as Carl and Rick.
For the first half of the production, the characters are concerned only with assessing their situation and trying to survive and get rescued, and the audience is only given small hints of their back story and who they are. Spear’s character Carl is angry and confrontational, pointing fingers and laying blame. With a chest injury and a possible broken rib, Carl continually verbally abuses his companion. Boyd’s character Rick, who suffers a head wound and a broken leg, is a much calmer and logical man, trying to keep a sense of sanity in the worst of situations. Immediately thrust into conflict with one another, the two men build an uneasy relationship.
It’s during the second half of the production — when the pair stop trying to get help and allow their stories to be revealed — that the production turns into something truly incredible. Both characters were brought to that stretch of highway by their own personal emotional journeys, fueled by bittersweet memories from past fishing trips in the nearby bay. It is through these memories that the two characters, who initially seemed two-dimensional, become fully realized emotional beings. The audience can truly start to care about them: it is no longer a story about survival, but about the events from the past that shaped Carl and Rick and eventually brought them together. The second half of the show is a powerful and personal character study brought to life by two extremely fine actors.
A special mention goes to Bea Quarrie for her off-stage role of Margaret, a “Good Samaritan” who passes the two men but is too befuddled to help them. In a production that’s sparse with humor, Quarrie’s performance is one of the rare light-hearted moments of the show and marks the bridge between the two halves of the production.
Another wonderful element of Fishing Buddies are the special lighting effects by John Robinson. As the production continues, the lighting changes with the mood of the performers. The change is subtle at first, but as day turns into night, the situation on stage becomes more dire, and the drama becomes quieter and more personal, the change in the lighting gets more noticeable. It’s an effect that truly enhances the mood of this production.
Fishing Buddies shows how much can be done in such little time when you bring together a collective of talented people. From the costumes and makeup, to the set and lighting design, to the chemistry of the actors and the skill of the directors, this play is an example of the best in Peterborough theatre.
Fishing Buddies runs until Sunday, October 26th at the Peterborough Theatre Guild in the Gwen Brown Studio. Tickets are $7.50 on a first-come, first-served basis.
