Wild ride

Douglas Hughes wears the car salesman’s jacket as though he was born hawking Nash Ramblers. With a slight wardrobe sleight of hand Alison Smyth glides smoothly between the two women competing for Earl’s attention. PHOTO: MICHAEL GRILLS

Brilliantly funny performances, well-crafted script highlight latest Festival Players production

If Test Drive, the new Festival Players’ production currently playing at Rosehall Run Winery in Hillier, was a car, it would be a nimble, blazing fast, high-powered coupe. Its lines sleek, sensual and refined. It would charge up hills, and careen around mountain roads, hugging the curves like a red on Rambler. It would be powered by a finely tuned turbocharged engine—firing with velvet smooth precision on all eight cylinders. And the ride? Simply unforgettable.

The play, by David Carley, is a wellcrafted, fastpaced and unrelentingly funny work. It is dosed heavily with familiar totems that immediately evoke a familiar time and place, even as the plot rolls seamlessly through decades.

Yet Carley’s play depends entirely on its two lead performers—each of whom must embody several characters— often interacting with each in the same scene. Test Drive can’t work without talented and intuitive performers. It is a high-wire act that demands very special ability. Attention to detail and pacing. The dialogue is tightly packed into this two-act performance.

It is here that Festival Players’ Test Drivespeeds past the words to create a special, unique and powerful theatrical experience. An acheivement made all the more surprising given that Douglas Hughes only took on the lead role of car man Earl Hughes six days before opening night.

Before the performance on opening night, Test Drive director Sarah Philips, noted Hughes’ abbreviated preparation and the circumstances around it—seeking the audience’s patience and indulgence. There was no need. Hughes fit the role of the car dealer like the rich Corinthian leather bucket seats of a ’69 Javelin.

In fact, days later, it is hard to imagine anyone else in the role. Hughes was impeccable as he embodied the earnest young sonin- law, the tempted husband, the weary dad, and the cantankerous and frustrated senior citizen. If there were stumbles—Hughes ably masked them with the natural frailty of his character—the car man made them more real.

Just as astonishing is the performance by Alison Smyth, who gives three generations of Hughes’ women distinct and compelling personalities, in addition to an unforgettable turn as a free-spirited, untethered temptress.

Smyth’s comic timing and fidelity to a rapid succession of characters is simply a marvel to behold. Carley’s script demands that Smyth pivot fluidly through a roster of personalities at high speed. Smyth pulls this off with lyrical grace and impeccable timing. I suspect you may never hear the name of a certain Japanese carmaker again without being reminded of Smyth’s performance in Test Drive.

Andrew Perun does a great job, too, in a dizzying array of secondary roles—particularly as the Woodstock hippie turned UnitedChurch minister.

Test Drive may be the best ride around in 2014— here or anywhere.

The setting alone, amid the vineyards, is enchanting and alluring; a warmly pleasant place to spend a summer evening. Then Test Drive pulls up, ushers you in and wheels off on a thrilling and ultimately rewarding adventure. After a brisk spin around the block, it brings you home again. You are already missing Earl, Dorothy and Speedy before you step out.

If you’ve never been to a Festival Players’ presentation— make your way to Rosehall Run before August 24. Take Test Drive out for a spin—you won’t soon forget the experience.

For ticket information go online to festivalplayers. ca or visit the box office at Books & Company in Picton.