Fly Me To The Moon: Another Strong Production at the GCTC

Photo: Andrew Alexander

FLY ME TO THE MOON by Marie Jones, author of the popular STONES IN HIS POCKETS, is a very funny black comedy. Frances and Loretta are home care workers in Belfast who take care of the elderly Davy. Their normal work day takes a sudden turn when they discover that Davy has died in the loo. Their decision to collect his pension leads to one darkly comedic twist after another. It finally leads to their realization that they knew almost nothing about him, just that he liked Frank Sinatra and playing the horses.

Frances, beautifully played by Mary Ellis, is the logically thinking instigator of the action. The nervous and more timid Loretta, equally well-played by Margo MacDonald, doesn’t take long to fall in with Frances’ plan. Both women are fully drawn and three-dimensional characters, trapped in their day to day struggle for some kind of financial security. Frances has enormous pride in her son’s successful business – selling boot-leg DVDs. Loretta constantly worries about her husband Brian, who’s unable to find work and pins his hopes on game shows.

Each moment of decision or indecision leads to consequences and complications that further reveal these women’s lives and characters. Basically moral people, they can’t resist looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, which culminates in a lovely and poignant resolution.

Sarah Waghorn has designed an impressive set with the bedroom of Davy’s modest home framed upstage by a row of council flats. Her costumes for the two women are just fine. David Magladry’s lighting is very good, helping define the women’s brief stretches of narration.

John P. Kelly has done a fine job of directing and staging, especially in moving smoothly in and out of the scenes to the narration. He and his two fine actors have clearly mined the characters for all their complexities. This is comedic acting at its best, and with an edge. The three-dimensional aspects of Frances and Loretta make us care about what happens to them.

FLY ME TO THE MOON provides an evening of solid theatre with plenty of humor and the occasional damp eye. This second production of the GCTC season lives up to the high standard set by the first.

“Fly Me to the Moon” plays at GCTC through Nov. 18 Tkts: 613-236-5196

FLY ME TO THE MOON by Marie Jones

Production of the Great Canadian Theatre Company

Director: John P. Kelly

Set & Costumes:Sarah Waghorn

Lighting: David Magladry

Cast

Frances: Mary Ellis

Loretta: Margo MacDonald