The Theatre on King (TTOK) opens it 2015-2016 season with Wyatt Lamoureux’s psychodrama Apple Pie. Ice Cream., featuring Meg O’Sullivan, Matt Gilbert, and Andrew Little and directed by Ryan Kerr.
Originally presented last year as a radio drama on Trent Radio, the TTOK’s production is the first time this moody and moving drama has been presented on stage.
Two estranged brothers, Mike (Matt Gilbert) and Donald (Andrew Little) meet at an empty all-night diner at 3 a.m. to discuss their ailing mother.
As they are served coffee, desserts, and dime-store therapy by Meg O’Sullivan (a smart and sexy nameless waitress), past tragedies, and present-day secrets come to the surface.
In the end, the waitress finds herself in over her head with family dysfunction beyond repair, and things happen that will affect the lives of the brothers forever.
Meg O’Sullivan gives the performance of a lifetime as the sweet-yet-sassy waitress with a heart as big as her vocabulary. She guides the audience into the drama with moody soliloquies that are part Shakespeare sonnets and part Tom Waits lyrics.
Andrew Little gives a compelling performance as Donald, who brings a sense of both anxiety and sensitivity to the drama.
But it’s Matt Gilbert as “wise guy” Mike who steals the show. Smart and eloquent yet rough and roguish, Matt harnesses the spirit of Edward G. Robinson for a performance filled with humour, rage, and anguish. Furthermore, his on-stage chemistry with Meg O’Sullivan is as delicious as the pie being served.
The only thing wrong with the show is that the run is only three nights.
A strong start to the current theatre season, this is local theatre at its best.
Apple Pie. Ice Cream. runs Thursday, September 10th to Saturday, September 12th at The Theatre on King (159 King Street, Suite 120, Peterborough). The show starts at 8 p.m. and admission is $10 or pay what you can.
