Imaginary Lines isn’t as clever as it thinks

Imaginary Lines by Reggie Oliver

A Linden House Theatre production

Directed by Robin Bowditch

The premise of Reggie Oliver’s comedy, Imaginary Lines sounds promising. It proposes to explore the often turbulent waters of personal relationships by examining  two layers of communication. The first exposes us to what people are saying out loud to each other. The second lets us in on what they’re actually thinking — or, more specifically what they wish they had said in attempting to find empathy with a member of the opposite sex.

Unfortunately, the Linden House Theatre Company’s production fails to find justification for the play’s surprising popularity among community theatre groups. Despite a strong cast and an excellent set design from Rachel Hauraney, Imaginary Lines seems no more than a feeble attempt on this playwright’s part to emulate the audacious structural  mind games for which his  mentor, Alan Ayckbourn, is renowned.

Indeed, the script is not even consistent in allowing us into the repressed thoughts of every character. This may partially explain why director Robin Bowditch has difficulty in establishing a sustained comic rhythm for this play. It keeps disconnecting.

That’s frustrating, given that we are getting a succession of potentially interesting characterizations. Kurt Shantz is very effective as Howard, the earnest used-book-shop proprietor who has this thing for Wanda but can’t seem to make the relationship work. Geoffrey Gruson is hilarious as Sir Michael Thurston, the fumbling, bumbling Member of Parliament who nurses futile hopes of getting Wanda away for  a dirty weekend in the country. True, we’ve seen characters like this before in plays by Ayckbourn and Ray Cooney, but Gruson serves the formula well.

Jennifer Sheffield has the trickiest role as Wanda, torn between her fantasizing expectations and the real world. She’s the most manipulative character in the play, but need she be so much of a cypher as a human being? Or perhaps this is what the script wrongly demands of her.

Janet Uren delivers an amusing cameo as Mrs. Burlap, befuddled author of children’s books and a frequent customer at the bookshop where she’s in search of works by a forgotten author called Mrs. Arnold Frogmore. But Uren also has the misfortune of being caught up in the play’s flimsiest comic situation when she misunderstands a conversation she overhears between Howard and Michael. These are the moments when Imaginary Lines descends into sophomoric silliness.

You keep hoping that somebody will show up to rescue the play from total stupidity, and you get it from the dependable Venetia Lawless, as a refreshingly forthright character named Carol. She has the great virtue of speaking her mind, of saying exactly what she thinks. In the process, she’s giving us an actual human being. When she’s on stage, you don’t much care about anyone else.

Imaginary Lines continues to November 13 at Elmwood Theatre

 

Direction and lighting: Robin Bowditch

Set: Rachel Hauraney

Costumes: Monica Browness and Jane Sadler

Sound: Bob McKellar

 

Cast:

Howard………………………….Kurt Shantz

Wanda…………………………..Jennifer Sheffield

Mrs. Burlap……………………..Janet Uren

Sir Michael Thurston…………..Geoffrey Gruson

Carol……………………………Venetia Lawless