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(Updated
1 p.m., Feb. 27)
OOPS does it again with clever, original production
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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 OOPS
newcomer Francine Hopley plays Desireé
Fabergé in the amateur theatre company's
production of 'Showdown at the OOPS Corral'.
Fred Sherwin/Photo
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The
Orléans Older Players return to the stage this
Saturday with their latest production – “Showdown
at the OOPS Corral”.
OOPS
is a collection of amateur theatre enthusiasts who meet
every Monday evening to share their love of the performing
arts under the instruction and direction of Susan Flemming.
The
four-month long course is conducted over two sessions
(Sept.-Feb. and March -June) with each session culminating
in a live performance.
Each
group decides on a theme at the beginning of the course
and then work in collaboration in developing the plot
and script.
“Showdown
at the OOPS Corral” features a lot of familiar faces,
including Tina Chan whose appeared in every OOPS production
since the course was first introduced in 2008 to give
parents of Orléans Young Players Theatre School
students a chance to act on stage. In
“Showdown”, Chan plays a saloon owner with a
mysterious past.
The
play is set in saloon/gambling house/hat shoppe in a frontier
town called Disappointment, Pop. 7.
The
Back Bacon Saloon, Gambling Emporium and Hat Shoppe is
owned by a Klementyna Smirnofia, a Russian woman with
a large diamond pendant, and frequented by characters
with equally mysterious pasts. As it turns out, they are
all wanted for committing a variety of crimes from stealing
a ham sandwich to causing the death of P.T. Barnum’s
star attraction, Dumbo the elephant.
Besides
a criminal past they also share a desire to possess Klementyna’s
diamond pendant, which culminates in a rather noisy final
scene. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The
play opens with the characters lying in various forms
of prostration under a sign identifying the set of the
previously mentioned establishment. Out of the shadows
emerges one Nellie Stringer, a newspaper reporter played
by Sarah Benfield, who gives a brief history of the town
and the saloon before announcing the first act.
Much
of the rest of the play is spent on character development
as the audience is cleverly introduced to the various
players one by one using a large “Wanted” frame
and a glaring spot light.
There
is Klementyna, of course, who jumps off a train as it’s
passing by the town to escape charges for allegedly stealing
a ham sandwich. When she jumps, she lands in creek where
she rather gratuitously finds a large diamond.
Bess
Farmer, who is played by Sophia Sudnikowicz, is the resident
cook who went on the lame after dumping a chicken pot
pie on a food critic.
Ruby
and Emerald Nickels, played by OOPS veterans Céline
Nadeau and Sue Ashton, are a sister act who are wanted
for allegedly
stealing a horse; and Pentimento Dorrito, played by another
OOPS veteran, André Lacasse, is the bartender who
is on the run after smashing bunch of alarm clocks that
put the professional waker-upper out of business.
Then
there’s Desireé Fabergé, played admirably
by the lone OOPS rookie in the cast, Francine Hopley.
Fabergé is a hat-maker who’s wanted for assaulting
a fellow milliner for making knock-offs of her original
creations.
The
rest of the cast is rounded out by Karen Bolt, who plays
Cora Brewster, a cattle rancher wanted for branding other
people’s cattle; Sebastien Melbourne who plays Jake
“The Snake” Slocum, wanted for causing the death
of Dumbo when he led the pachyderm across a railway track;
and Trish Golden who plays Molly Bates, a bounty hunter
hot on the trail of the fugitives at large.
“Showdown
at the OOPS Corral” can be seen on Friday, Feb. 23at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the Richcraft Theatre
at the Shenkman Arts Centre. Tickets are $10 for adults
and $5 for students and children under 12.
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of
our local business partners.)
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TAPROOM 260 presents Crooked Creek live from 8-11 p.m. at 260 Centrum Blvd. For more information visit 
MATT LULOFF W/ EDISON RUPERT performing at the Stray Dog Brewing Company, 501 Lacolle Way in the Taylor Creek Business Park. To register your team visit 
OTTAWA CARLETON MALE CHOIR in concert at the Navan-Vars United Church 1129 Smith Rd. in Navan at 2:30 p.m. Tickets $20 at the door.
THE ORLÉANS BREWING CO. presents Oyster Wednesdays every Wednesday. The Orléans Brewing Co. is located at 4380 Innes Rd. near McDonalds.
BLACKBURN HAMLET COMMUNITY GARAGE SALE from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The entire community is invited…rain or shine! Please keep visiting blackburn.ca for more up-to-date information as it becomes available.
