Norm Foster’s play, Ethan Claymore, is the heartwarming story of Ethan, a young recluse widower living in a small Canadian farming community who, with the help of a doggedly determined, meddlesome neighbour and the ghost of his recently-deceased brother, finds a meaning to life and love just in time for the holiday season. Foster’s earnestly honest writing crafts a story with depth and feeling and keeps it away from the realm of cheesy or gimmicky. The play, under John P. Kelly’s direction for the Gladstone, is simple, sweet, and without pretense. The director manages to infuse the production with the charm and warmth found in small communities and that is central to the play. The atmosphere is sometimes thrown off by the uneven acting and some of the casting choices didn’t make all that much sense. However, other than that, this is a great, feel-good holiday piece that can be enjoyed by the entire family.

Ethan Claymore (played by Tim Oberholzer), an artist at heart who moved to the community years ago to live “the simple life” has been mourning his dead wife for five years. He secludes himself and buries his head and heart into his failing egg farming business. That is, until determined, curmudgeonly neighbour Douglas (Paul Rainville) takes matters into his own hands by setting Ethan up with the new schoolteacher, Teresa (Sarah Finn). Add to this a surprise visit form his very recently deceased brother, Martin (David Drisch) to resolve deep-seated family resentment, and we see Ethan slowly open himself up to the possibilities of life and love.

John P. Kelly manages to get the pacing of the show just right. It flows along and keeps the audience’s attention throughout. There’s also a sweetness and lack of pretention to it that makes the story and characters all that much more relatedly human. The set is functional and homey and the cast uses the stage well. Particularly good were moments when Martin’s ghost, only seen by Ethan, is in the room with others. The almost a dance-like preciseness of moments mimic the pace of the play.    …

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Tim Oberholzer as Ethan Claymore. Photo: Andrew Alexander

A feel good story of complicated family relations, headed by the shy, retiring, slightly recluse Ethan Claymore who has withdrawn from social life for five years because of his wife’s death. Thanks to a well-intentioned interfering neighbour, a caring school teacher and a ghost seeking redemption, he is dragged out of his state of mourning and brought back to life. Paul Rainville plays the volatile, hilarious neighbour Douglas Mclaren, , bristling with energy, excitement and with just as much chili pepper as they put into that hot chocolate that was served after the show. Rainville stole the show hands down. No matter however, because we know that when Paul Rainville makes his moves on stage, he overflows with so much temperament and stage magic that no one can overcome his presence. This time was no exception.

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