These Women have Balls (Golf balls, that is)
Reviewed by Mary Alderson
Feel like spending some time on the golf course before summer’s over? Just go the Globus Theatre at the Lakeview Arts Barn at Bobcaygeon and enjoy a round. The Ladies Foursome is on stage there until August 24th, and before the play, you can enjoy a one of their famous dinners.
But don’t see this play if you’re a golf fanatic and you want to see a show that might improve your game. This play isn’t really about golf at all. While it’s set on a golf course, the play is about female friendships: some strong, some questionable.
Three friends are meeting for their usual round of golf, the same as they have for 14 years, but it is the day after their fourth friend’s funeral. She died when she was struck by lightning sitting on top of a Ferris wheel at the carnival. There are tears and regrets as Margot (Elena Post), Tate (Melissa Morris), and Connie (Sarah Quick) talk about their missing friend. But they add a new member to the foursome, Dory (Linette Doherty). Dory operates a lodge up north where their late friend, Cathy, had spent two weeks each summer. The other three are quick to point out that she preferred to be called Catherine.
It soon becomes apparent that Dory knows a great deal about the other three, but they know nothing of her from Catherine. It is also obvious that these three women who claim to be Catherine’s friends didn’t know everything about Catherine. Dory knows that Connie is a flirtatious, lusty news anchor, Tate is an unhappy mom with three kids, and Margot is a workaholic in her construction company, and estranged from her daughter. But Connie, Tate and Margot know nothing about Dory. It seems that their departed friend with whom they have golfed for 14 years never told them about her vacations at a lodge for the past 12 years.
Nevertheless, the three have warm memories of times when Catherine had come to their aid and was there for them when they needed help. But did they ever reciprocate?
All four actors bring strength to their roles, and handle both grief and comedy appropriately. Playwright Norm Foster never misses a chance to inject humour into the script, but not at the expense of the pervasive sense of loss the women share. At one point Connie asks if she is being insensitive, because she didn’t know she was insensitive. Margot tells her that’s what insensitive means. Each woman’s weakness, not in her golf swing, but in her life, is bared.
Sarah Quick is perfect as the randy TV journalist, who seems to have had more than her share of one-night stands. Much of the comedy is centred around her sexual exploits. Melissa Morris is delightful as the wide-eyed Tate who always seems a little clued-out, but then very focussed when she talks of her dreams. Elena Post as Margot gives us the somewhat jaded woman who puts her business before everything else. Linette Doherty as Dory is the wise one who knows more than she lets on, and eventually shares the secrets. There is one secret revealed that makes this play show its age. Let’s hope that in 2024 this is no longer a secret that must be kept. But that’s all I can say without spoiling the show. Perhaps in a few years, this script can be retired.
One other concern with the opening night performance – it ran a little long. Each scene takes place at a tee, so the story unfolds in 18 sections. Unfortunately, there is too much walking around behind the scenes between each tee-off which slows down the action and delays the story.
We recognize these four women. As with any group of friends, there are different personalities that sometimes clash. These women will become better people, and maybe some of us who see ourselves mirrored here can live better lives, too.
The Ladies Foursome continues at the Globus Theatre, Lakeview Arts Barn near Bobcaygeon, until August 24. Tickets are available by calling the Box Office at 705-738-2037 or 1-800-304-7897 or visit https://www.lakeviewartsbarn.com/globus-current-season
Photo: Elena Post (Margot), Linette Doherty (Dory), Melissa Morris (Tate) and Sarah Quick (Connie) on the tee-off in The Ladies Foursome. Photo by Rebecca Bloom.
The Ladies Foursome
By Norm Foster
Directed by James Barrett
Performed by Linette Doherty, Melissa Morris, Elana Post, Sarah Quick.
Globus Theatre, Lakeview Arts Barn, 2300 Pigeon Lake Rd., Bobcaygeon
August 14 to 24, 2024
Reviewed by Mary Alderson