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Southern Manitoba theatre fans will be treated to a Canadian premiere of a production that has already received rave reviews on Broadway and in London’s West End.
Mr. & Mrs. Nobody is the second-ever production produced by Steinbach’s Looking Glass Theatre, which began its inaugural season back in the fall. The comedy centers on the exploits of Charles and Carrie Pooter, a Victorian-era couple hopelessly consumed in the vanities of life.
“If you enjoy aridly-dry British humour, it’s for you,” said director Laura Turner in a conversation on Morning Light.
It’s no stretch for Chris Friesen and Esther Koepnick to jump into the role of husband and wife – it's one that they have been playing for six years together in their personal life. Koepnick explains that their bond was forged while in theatre school together, and they’ve managed to build a lot of onstage chemistry and shorthand that they use to build their scenes together.
“I think the trust and love that we have in our marriage frees us up to be able to take some risks and play around on stage,” says Koepnick. “I think that results in a really fun performance.”
Turner notes that even though Friesen and Koepnick weren’t cast solely because they were married in real life, it did help to lean on the chemistry that was already built into that relationship because of a truncated rehearsal process. “The basis of great acting, great scene acting with other partners is trust. That is so incredibly important,” she explains.
“The delightful thing about having a real-life married couple playing a real-life married couple on stage is that they can do real –life married couple things,” Turner adds, pointing to a few fun moments in the rehearsal process where Koepnick and Friesen would add a harmless pinch or two in that Turner wouldn’t have necessarily asked other actors to do.
Friesen and Koepnick don’t take this opportunity to work with each other on stage or the chemistry that they share for granted. “To be able to act in what is essentially a two-hander with someone that you’re married to, that’s not an everyday opportunity,” Friesen says. “It’s a great experience to get to put on a show together. We’ll take away some more levels of trust in terms of that we are able to handle a whole show together.”
Mr. & Mrs. Nobody officially opens on February 14 at 7 p.m. at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum in Steinbach, with another performance scheduled for February 15 at the same time. The production resumes with performances on February 21 at 7 p.m. and February 22 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. , and then heads to the Kenmor Theatre in Morden for a 7 p.m. performance on February 28. Tickets and more information can be found at Looking Glass Theatre’s website.