If you are looking for a perfect Nova Scotian summertime show I recommend heading to Theatre Baddeck for Mary-Colin Chisholm’s play He’d Be Your Mother’s Father’s Cousin. It’s both hilarious and heartfelt and simultaneously extremely specific to Cape Breton and entirely universal. It’s exactly the kind of theatrical treat that caps off a day of ice cream, enjoying the sun at the beach, and getting supper from a fish and chips truck.
He’d Be Your Mother’s Father’s Cousin has a simple premise. A mother (played by Christy MacRae-Ziss) who lives in Cape Breton is corresponding with her daughter, Mary Rose, who has recently moved to Toronto, via cassette tape, instead of writing a letter or paying for a long distance phone call. She records the family news and the local news of their town on a tape recorder and then mails the tape to Mary Rose. Mom also unintentionally captures the colourful background commotion of their household: her beleaguered husband (Lee J. Campbell), who is always losing things, feisty Gramma (Mauralea Austin), who is full of stories, mischief and a bit of the Gaelic, and a dramatic cat, Gramma’s accomplice. Chisholm does a beautiful job of rooting each scene in the cassette tape for Mary Rose, but then allowing the family to burst out around it, giving us a really strong sense of their familial dynamics and the flavour of their entire community. Logan Robins ad Ron Newcombe play an array of neighbours and extended family members who also help to create the world outside of this family’s kitchen. Chisholm also really captures the specific Cape Breton/Gaelic vernacular of her characters; my favourite is when Gramma refers to someone as “a bastred.”
The actors deserve a lot of the credit for bringing these characters to such vivid life with nuance and hilarity and heart. Robins does wonders at puppeteering the cat and infusing it with personality. Campbell is delightfully grumpy as Dad; he may bumble around the house like a curmudgeon, but his love for his family still shines through. MacRae-Ziss is so heartfelt as Mom, we see how lonesome she is for her daughter and how stressful, but also rewarding, it can be to be part of the “Sandwich Generation,” as she worries and cares about Gramma and Mary Rose at the same time. Mom manages to be sort of an “Everywoman” here, but MacRae-Ziss also finds ways of giving this Mom her own specificity in how she relates and responds to the various calamities that arise in her household. Mauralea Austin shines brightly as Gramma; she is the comedic heart of the play and she’s “given’er” all the boisterousness she has to great effect. There is also a really lovely moment when Austin’s Gramma has a chance to say something important to Mary Rose without being overheard, which reminded me so much of something my own grandmother might have said to me in confidence. We also get a strong sense of the challenges that Gramma faces in reaching this stage of life: she is restricted and monitored by her children, her body doesn’t allow her to do the things she once enjoyed and she misses Mary Rose terribly as well.
Heidi Malazdrewich directs the show and makes great use of a small space, keeping most scenes within the family kitchen, but then also finding creative ways to bring us into a hospital room, on a road trip and to the cottage. She also makes good use of the backstage area to create a soundscape that surrounds the kitchen, which gives us a sense of the family’s entire house. Robins and Newcombe perform folk songs between the scenes, to further root the play in its culture and heritage.
He’d Be Your Mother’s Father’s Cousin is full of silliness and shenanigans and also has some really poignant moments, especially at the end, which I think will really pull at the heartstrings of anyone who is a parent, or anyone who has been a child leaving the nest. It’s making me tear up just a bit even thinking about it now, and I saw the play nearly a week ago. This is a gorgeous piece from Mary-Colin Chisholm and the cast do the play magnificent justice. Having the opportunity to see it in beautiful Baddeck was the icing on an already delicious cupcake.
He’d Be Your Mother’s Father’s Cousin plays on select days at Theatre Baddeck (24 Queen Street, Baddeck) on select days through August 15th, 2019. Tickets range in price from $18.00-$28.00 (plus tax). For tickets please call 902.412.7122 or visit this website.
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