Laughter is the Best Medicine: The Imaginary Invalid

30 March 2012Jim Ganley

Brentwood College School ‘s Senior Acting Class is currently having fun rehearsing this year’s drama production. Their director, Mrs. Susan Quinton, was intrigued by a new upbeat version of Moliere’s comedy “The Imaginary Invalid” that debuted last summer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR and thought her students would enjoy the farcical style and outrageous antics of his commedia dell’arte characters.

The original play was written in 1642, but playwrights Tracey Young and Oded Gross have set the story in the swinging 1960s and updated the language, jokes and pop culture references. The six groovy original pop songs composed by Paul James Pendergast are complemented by a wild Art Deco set and mod fashions (mini -skirts, go-go boots and paisley shirts). Mrs. Jesse Sketchley, a recent British import to the Cowichan Valley music scene, was hired as a vocal coach to work with the cast on the Phil Spector inspired tunes which are sure to please an audience who can remember groups such as the Ronnettes and the Beatles.

The jokes are nonstop in this romantic comedy: cheesy puns, silly asides, cheeky insults, slapstick antics, but also satirical commentary on dubious medical practices and man’s blind faith in his physicians’ prescriptions. The story is simple: a wealthy hypochondriac’s medical bills soar as he foolishly buys every new remedy and miracle drug his doctor prescribes. He is a miserly old man so he arranges a marriage of his eldest daughter, Angelique, to a young medical student, Thomas, in the hope of receiving free medical advice for the rest of his life.

Angelique, however, is in love with the florist’s son, Cleante, and does not want to marry the geeky Thomas. Fortunately, her sassy servant, Toinette, devises a plan to help the young couple and teach the miserly old man a lesson. Other cast members include a collection of dancing buffoons, comic characters and singing medics.

An outrageous and fun evening at the theatre can be expected from the Canadian premiere of the latest adaptation of Moliere’s classic farce, “The Imaginary Invalid”, April 18 to April 21 at Brentwood College’s Killy Theatre in the T. Gil Bunch Centre for the Performing Arts. Please reserve your tickets online at boxoffice@brentwood.bc.ca or contact Lorraine Blake at 250-743-5521. Tickets are $10.00.

A special three course dinner from the Satellite Bar & Grille at Arbutus Ridge Golf Club is also an option before the play on Saturday night, April 21, starting at 5:50pm. $40.00 includes dinner, return transportation to and from Brentwood and the theatre ticket. Reservations for this dinner & theatre package are available at the Golf Club administration office or phone 250-743-5100.

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