Mary’s Wedding: What were they thinking?

Playwright Stephen Massicotte’s storyline is appealing if predictable: boy (Charlie, played by Nicholas Maillet) meets girl (Mary, played by Emily Walsh) just as World War I breaks out. They fall for each other, ride around a bit on a horse (in this case, a wooden prop that no amount of imagination can turn into anything but a wooden prop), share tender moments, and eventually come to the end that too many young couples do in wartime.

Along the way – time isn’t linear in this show – we also meet Flowers, young Charlie’s commanding officer who does his best to buck up his unhappy charge by giving good relationship advice. Flowers is also played by Walsh but lower her voice though she does, she doesn’t stand a chance of convincing us she’s anything but a woman who’s lowered her voice, in part because she continues to wear the same white nightgown she wears everywhere including the barn where the pretend horse lives.

There are some good battlefront and other scenes. Unfortunately, Rob Fairbairn’s soundscape often drowns out the text, or at least it did on opening night.

Maillet, a grade 12 student, should have been coached by director Wendy Wagner to be more forceful (and not to slouch so much). His character is, agreed, an insecure young man, but this Charlie is so wan you wonder what Mary could possibly see in him.

Walsh as Mary is stronger, but her character’s British accent gets in the way of clear enunciation time and again.

Kanata Theatre is capable of very good productions. This isn’t one of them.

Mary’s Wedding

Kanata Theatre