DETAILS

When Girls Collide presented by Vertigo Theatre
Vertigo Theatre
Saturday, January 21 - Sunday, February 19

More in: Theatre

The Varscona Theatre in Edmonton and the Vertigo mainstage in Calgary don’t appear to have much in common. One is modest, the other is sleek — the former seats 176 and is located off of funky, artsy Whyte Avenue; the latter seats 350 and sits in the heart of the corporate oil and gas sector. Yet, both venues will soon have hosted productions of Stewart Lemoine’s mystery comedy When Girls Collide. A revival of the play opened at the Varscona last year; Vertigo Theatre is now mounting the show.

Taking a comedic jab at the conventions of film noir, the play takes place in 1943 and tells the story of Helen Thorne (Karen Johnson-Diamond), a resentful housewife-cum-private detective, as she digs for clues following a series of murders. Her investigation leads her to encounters with a callous heiress (Laura Parkin) and a callow stepmother (Vanessa Sabourin), whose secrets hold the key to solving the puzzle.

The play premièred in 1989 through a co-production between Workshop West and Lemoine’s company Teatro La Quindicina. (Teatro also produced last year’s remount.)

Lemoine’s approach to writing is not typical in that he puts a cast together before he types a single word and then sets out to craft something to fit that team, often not knowing what the story will be about or what style he’ll use. This approach has enabled him to write dozens of plays for both his company as well as the Edmonton Fringe Festival, where he remains a popular mainstay.

In this case, he started with a cast of three women and thought it would be interesting to do a send-up of film noir, turning the genre — and all its inherent clichés — on its head. So when Helen — the clueless and inexperienced detective — travels to a sinister mansion to conduct an interrogation, she brings a cake. Something Lemoine finds “fun and interesting.”

And that’s how he finds the stories he’s writing — by looking at both life and genres and putting unusual, amusing spins on them.

For instance, take his approach to language. While writing When Girls Collide, Lemoine went to town playing up the colloquialisms of the period.

“At the time I had an old American slang thesaurus and had a lot of fun playing with that,” he says. “The play just becomes this torrent of words, and the audiences have always loved that.”

“The language is very quick and very witty,” agrees Sabourin. “It’s important to hear the right rhythms and find the desires that stem from that. The thought patterns are quick, and you have to keep up and stay true to your character. There’s a lot going on underneath.”

Indeed, beneath the witty dialogue, the piece is about three women struggling with real problems. Speaking about her character, Cookie, Sabourin says, “She’s not the sharpest crayon in the box. Reading characters like that, you sometimes think they’re just crazy or a total airhead. But [Cookie] is just really sensitive and lonely. I know that sounds cheesy but I think that’s just who she is.”

For Sabourin, the play is about her character’s struggle to cope with a world where people treat her cruelly.

“People really do hate her, and she doesn’t understand why. She feels threatened and tries to protect herself. Then one day she abandons that plan and tries to make a friend.”

“There are three women who at first seem really incompatible and combative with each other,” says Lemoine. “But then they find a way to solve their problems in a way that’s not typical of film noir. So through all the laughs and intrigue, you also find a story about friendship.”