Every Thursday, we publish live music and performance events at pubs and clubs in Peterborough and The Kawarthas based on information that venues provide to us directly or post on their website or social media channels. Here are the listings for the week of Thursday, August 10 to Wednesday, August 16.

If you’re a pub or club owner and want to be included in our weekly listings, please email our Nightlife Editor at nightlife@kawarthanow.com.

Until August 19th, Globus Theatre at the Lakeview Arts Barn in Bobcaygeon welcomes well-known Canadian comedian, novelist, and playwright Lorne Elliott who directs and co-stars in his play The Fixer-Upper.

An enjoyable comedy about family dynamics, summer rentals, and profiteering, The Fixer-Upper is a uniquely structured production and another success for Globus’s “all Canadian” summer season.

Best known as the host of the long-running CBC Radio comedy series Madly Off in All Directions from 1995 to 2006, Lorne Elliott has been featured on radio and television and has travelled throughout Canada and the US with his various comedy shows. He originally performed The Fixer-Upper as a one-man show called Tourist Trap, which made its debut in 2000 at Theatre on the Grand in Fergus Ontario, and then published the story as a novella called The Fixer-Upper in 2009.

That led to a new production of the show co-starring actress Karen Cromar in the role of Aunt Tillie, who reprises her role in Globus’s production. Although Lorne originally performed the role of the play’s protagonist Bruno MacIntyre, he has since handed the role to actor Kyle Gregor-Pearce while Lorne has stepped back to focus on the direction of the play, as well as performing the key roles of Phyllis and Simon.

The Fixer-Upper is the story of Prince Edward Island resident Bruno MacIntyre, a good-natured slacker looking for an opportunity to make an easy buck. When his father leaves him a rundown old shack in the midst of a swamp, Bruno gets the idea that he can rent it out as a vacation spot to unsuspecting members of his large family for extra income over the summer season.

Having never cared to pay attention to any of his extended relatives, Bruno calls his meddlesome Aunt Tillie, who knows the back story on everyone. Through Tillie, Bruno gets the phone number of two distant relatives, Simon and Phyllis. While Bruno calls Phyllis and talks her into renting the cabin for two weeks, Tillie contacts Simon and gets him to rent the cabin for three weeks.

What Bruno doesn’t realize is that Simon and Phyllis are scheduled to arrive on the same day, and there may have been a few key factors in his renters’ back stories Aunt Tillie had left out. The result is a hilarious comedy of errors which keeps the audience laughing as the missing pieces start to fit into the holes left in the story, and the tale gets wilder and wilder.

What makes The Fixer-Upper a unique theatrical experience is that the entire show is made up of people talking over the telephone to one another. The play originally had the subtitle “A play in seven conversations” and that’s exactly how it’s structured. The actors never physically interact with each other beyond talking on the phone, nor do they ever look directly at one another. However, this doesn’t stop them from entertaining the audience through their reactions and body language.

For the most part, none of the events in the show actually take place on stage; they are all related to the audience by conversations between the three performers. So how entertaining is it to watch people having phone conversations? In the case of The Fixer-Upper, very. Relying completely on the art of storytelling, the performers — particularly Kyle Gregor-Pearce — are able to entertain and engage the audience, which holds on to every witty quip, every action, and every reaction in the journey to the ultimate punchline. It’s a risky show, but one that works with the proper director and performers.

In the role of lovable loser Bruno MacIntyre, Kyle has the difficult task of keeping the audience engaged, never leaving the stage, being part of every conversation, and using storytelling to create vivid scenes in the minds of the audience — and he is fantastic. A slacker, a schemer and an opportunist, Bruno is the ultimate underdog looking for the fastest and cheapest way to create his “vacation paradise.” His lack of knowledge and inattention to details, like arrival dates and building structure, leads to his hilarious downfall.

Most of all, its Kyle’s storytelling ability that makes this show work. In the first act, Bruno has six different conversations with three different characters, setting up the show and keeping him engaged with the different characters. But the second act becomes just one long phone conversation, where Bruno must explain an entire comic situation to Aunt Tillie.

Kyle relies on his body language, voice work, and comic timing to bring this potentially difficult scene to life for the audience. For a less experienced actor, the second act could be a disaster, but Kyle is incredible and constructs a dysfunctional world for the audience with little more than his words. It’s a brilliant performance that you have to see to understand.

The role of Aunt Tillie, performed by Karen Cromar, is an interesting one. Brash, gossipy, and manipulative, Aunt Tillie seems to be mostly a sounding board for Bruno. However, over time we realize there is much more to Aunt Tillie and her relationship to the plot than it first appears. Eventually, Aunt Tillie gives a different meaning to the play’s title: does it refer to the cottage or to Aunt Tillie herself? Playing a colourful character, Karen brings to life those annoying yet endearing relatives all of us have, and her performance hit close to home on a number of occasions.

Although Lorne has given over his character Bruno to Kyle, he maintains a presence in the play through his performances as Simon and Phyllis. In Simon, he plays a pompous writer who has designs on destroying Bruno before he even arrives. But it’s his off-stage performance as Phyllis where Lorne gives his most outlandish performance. A sex-starved cougar out on the prowl, Phyllis’s conversation with Bruno is among the funniest of the show. While he doesn’t have much stage time himself, Lorne’s comedy is stamped all over The Fixer-Upper.

This year has been a particularly strong season for Globus, and The Fixer-Upper is another entry in a remarkable summer of entertainment at the Lakeview Arts Barn. Lorne Elliott and his company put on a delightful show with a potentially risky staging concept but, through their wit and comedic storytelling, make it a show worth seeing. It’s another reason to make the trip to Bobcaygeon for one of the best theatre experiences in the Kawarthas.

The Fixer-Upper runs from until Saturday, August 19th at the Lakeview Arts Barn in Bobcaygeon. A three-course table d’hôte menu is available at 6 p.m. prior to every evening performance. Tickets are $31.50 for adults and $20 for students for the show only, or $65.50 for adults and $54 for students if you want the dinner and the show. For tickets, visit the box office at Lakeview Arts Barn or call 705-738-2037.

It’s déjà vu for Peterborough Musicfest as yet another Canadian music success story rooted in a teen friendship prepares to take to Del Crary Park’s Fred Anderson Stage.

Just this past Saturday (August 5), the free summer concert series welcomed Eh440, an a cappella quintet that includes two members who met as youths and reunited later as members of that group. Now country-bluegrass trio The Washboard Union is on tap for Wednesday, August 9th, with two of its members having struck an adolescent friendship and evolved it into a musical union.

It was in Kelowna, British Columbia that Aaron Grain and Chris Duncombe met — a relationship prompted by Duncombe’s father dating Grain’s mother. When the two friends moved to Vancouver, they teamed up with David Roberts. Before long, the trio was writing songs and performing together, initially under the moniker Run GMC.

Come June 2012, now known as The Washboard Union — the washboard being a key weapon in their musical arsenal along with a guitar and banjo — they self-released their debut self-titled album. There things sat recording-wise until 2015 EP In My Bones, which was recorded in Nashville with producer extraordinaire Trey Bruce at the helm.

VIDEO: “Some Day” – The Washboard Union

In My Bones was a game changer for The Washboard Union, producing not one but four Top 40 hits: “Some Day”, “Maybe It’s The Moonshine”, “Shot Of Glory”, and “Head Over Heels”.

Accordingly, music industry recognition has been quick in coming, first in 2015 when the British Columbia Country Music Association bestowed Roots Canadiana of the Year honours, and then in 2016 when the same awards presentation saw nods go to The Washboard Union for Group Duo of the Year, Roots Canadiana of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year for “Maybe It’s The Moonshine”. Also in the mix last year were two Canadian Country Music Awards in the categories of Roots Artist of the Year and Rising Star.

“I can’t believe we’ve had a year of singles from our EP,” says Grain in an October 2016 interview with Roman Mitz of www.themusicexpress.ca.

VIDEO: “Maybe It’s The Moonshine” – The Washboard Union

“I think people were looking for something different and our timing was great. We’re cut from a different cloth because of the style of our music, and we hit popular radio at a time when country music’s fabric changed. There was a bit of a throwback to how country music used to sound. If we tried to do this now we might be looked at as being somewhat behind the boat. Had the switch not happened at the right time, I don’t think we would have had the success that we did.

“Like all good stories it started with a bottle of whisky and some good ideas. At the time, we were doing between 40 and 50 trucker songs, covering Red Sovine, C.W. McCall and Roger Miller, that kind of thing. I looked at Chris (Duncombe) and said that he should go to a store and buy a banjo and a beginner’s banjo book. David (Roberts) took the washboard that was off the wall and created this washboard sound that definitely leant itself to bluegrass.”

Working in Nashville with Trey Bruce certainly didn’t hurt matters. The veteran producer has written, and co-written, songs for the like of Diamond Rio, Randy Travis and Faith Hill, to name but a few country music heavyweights his name is linked to.

VIDEO: “Shot of Glory” – The Washboard Union

“In My Bones became the name of the EP for reasons that we initially didn’t realize were happening,” says Grain.

“We went to Nashville and, at the time, we were staying right across the street from a cemetery. On top of that we recorded at RCA Studio A where people like Porter Waggoner, Eddy Arnold and Elvis had recorded, so it was like we were surrounded by these ghosts of country music, and spirits from the past coming through the walls of the studio.

“After all was said and done, we were quite touched and affected by this, and we felt the music, literally, in our bones.”

VIDEO: “Head Over Heels” – The Washboard Union

The award accolades that have followed have produced their share of pinch-me moments for the band, adds Grain.

“The CCMA awards caught us completely by surprise. We thought we might have a chance for the Roots award and when our name was called out, we were just over the moon about it. When we got the Rising Star award, it blew us all away. It’s one of those things to be recognized among your peers, fellow musicians and the music industry, as being the best. It feels like the work that we’re putting into it is being acknowledged.”

On the horizon for The Washboard Union is the pending release of a new album and a number of summer show dates, both in Ontario and back out west in Alberta and B.C.

The Washboard Union’s Peterborough Musicfest appearance is sponsored by Cambium, GE, and Home Hardware.

Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 17 free-admission concerts featuring a total of 22 acts during its 31st season — each staged every Wednesday and Saturday night until August 26th.

Overseen by general manager Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission is to “provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”

For more information on this concert and/or the 2017 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.