Mr. Pim Passes By : Getting there is all the fun, something the artists dont always remember

It’s easy to dismiss Mr. Pim Passes by as a mere trifle, a 93-year-old relic of British theatre as it once was. But to do so would be to undervalue both the material and A.A. Milne’s cunning and craftsmanship as a popular playwright. Indeed, it’s should be noted that for much of Milne’s long writing career, his immense reputation was not defined by the world of Winnie The Pooh and Christopher Robin but by his success in live theatre.

Plays like The Dover Road, Mr. Pim Passes by and The Man In The Bowler Hat (a deft confidence trick which used to be a staple of one-act play festivals) remain worthy of attention. So does the engaging production of Mr. Pim Passes By now on view at the Ottawa Little Theatre.

Still, one feels that the OLT revival, directed by Joe O’Brien, could have been even more of a romp. The production certainly aims for the right note of whimsy, beginning with a playful set design from Robin Riddihough. And it does feature some solid performances. However, it also seems stylistically uncertain, and this occasionally reduces the laughter quotient.

Certainly, one cannot fault the fuddle-headed charm of Barry Caiger’s portrayal of Mr. Carraway Pim, the absent-minded stranger whose arrival at the Marden country estate with a letter of introduction seems perfectly innocuous at the beginning but ends up triggering a day of crisis in the household.

One big reason Caiger is so effective is that he deftly conveys the amiable Mr. Pim’s comical obliviousness to the chaos he causes when he makes a casual reference to an acquaintanceship struck up during a recent sea voyage. As he prattles on, disaster looms for Olivia Marden, the even-tempered mistress of the house, since it appears that the individual in question is the somewhat shady ex-husband whom she has long believed to be dead. Could she be in a bigamous relationship with her present husband, George, a strait-laced Justice Of The Peace obsessed with society and his place in it? The very idea horrifies George who is already having a bad day because of the determination of his niece and ward, Dinah, to hook up with an impecunious young artist named Brian, who is socially beneath her.

Mr. Pim borders on farce, but more importantly it is sustained by a vein of social comedy and by Milne’s belief that character is as important as situation. The tone is such that you know early on that all will end well — even though with every reappearance Mr. Pim reveals an increasingly suspect memory, thereby confounding matters further. But ultimately, with this kind of play, it’s the getting there that promises to be fun.

Which is why some of the people on the OLT stage need be having more fun with their material. Too often, Robert Hicks and Jenny Sheffield, both capable actors, seem to be in a different play and out of synch with this production. They need to loosen up a bit and offer less mannered portrayals of George and Olivia. They should avoid coming across as bloodless and stop reining in the comic potential of their scenes.

As Dinah, Katie Norland finds her character’s opening-act exposition a bit of a slog (who wouldn’t?) but she makes it through. And in general she and William Verreault Milner, as the young man of her dreams, are delightfully refreshing and spontaneous in their characterizations. As for Jane Morris, an emergency addition to the cast only days before the opening, she makes her own lively contribution as a flamboyantly eccentric aunt.

Set: Robin Riddihough
Lighting: John Solman
Sound: Melinda Ainsworth-Roy
Costumes: Glynis Ellens

Cast:
George Marden………………………………………..Robert Hicks
Brian Strange………………………………………….William Verreault Milner
Anne……………………………………………………Pam Harle
Mr. Pim…………………………………………………Barry Caiger
Dinah……………………………………………………Katie Norland
Olivia Marden…………………………………………..Jenny Sheffield
Lady Marden…………………………………………….Jane Morris