Mr. Pim Passes By: A. A. Milne’s engaging incursion into theatre!!

Photo. Alan Dean

Yes, you can imagine the author of Winnie-the-Pooh writing this play. Inconsequential, unassuming and surprisingly engaging, A.A. Milne’s Mr. Pim Passes By is a gentle bit of entertainment that finds a generally befuddled Mr. Pim (Barry Caiger) accidentally throwing a spanner into the marriage of the ultra-conservative George Marden (Robert Hicks) and his more liberal wife Olivia Marden (Jenny Sheffield). There’s other stuff involving an evolving relationship between a couple of younger folks, a bluff aunt shows up, and all comes right in the end.

Directed by Joe O’Brien, the show is well-paced, its simple beginning slowly gathering complications that are absurd to all but those involved. And like a Winnie-the-Pooh story, the characters tangle with questions of loyalty, right and wrong, and other issues without Milne’s ever becoming heavy-handed about it.

Milne wrote over 30 plays. Mr. Pim Passes By, and OLT’s production of it, is one of the good ones.

Continues until Dec. 15 at the Ottawa Little Theatre