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Mother-son story opens expanded staged-reading series in Surrey and White Rock

Two actors do ‘For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again’ for Peninsula Productions
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Ben Odberg and Lori Tych in a staged reading presented by Peninsula Productions last year. (Photo: Beverly Malcom/submitted)

SURREY — For Peninsula Productions, a third season of staged readings means work in two cities.

The theatre company’s season-opening show has actors Ben Odberg and Lori Tych doing For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again in both White Rock and Surrey, starting Sunday (Oct. 15) at Peninsula Productions’ home studio at Centennial Park (14600 North Bluff Rd.) and closing Wednesday (Oct. 18) at Centre Stage at Surrey City Hall.

Michel Tremblay’s poignant script, both hilarious and heartbreaking, offers glimpses of himself and his mother at five different stages of their lives together.

“It’s a really beautiful play,” said Wendy Bollard, who directs. “(Tremblay) wrote it for the pleasure of seeing his mother again, because his mother died before he was successful, and she really instilled his love of storytelling and theatre. She was a total character, too. She’s that type of woman we have all known, a good storyteller herself. It’s not that she’s a liar, but every story she tells is completely embellished to make it more interesting.”

The show opens a four-play Staged Reading season for the company, with Arthur Miller’s historical drama, Incident at Vichy, up next, on Nov. 12 and 15, with Dean Paul Gibson directing. Later, Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol will be staged on Dec. 10 and 13, followed by Florian Zeller’s The Father on Feb. 4 and 7.

Bollard, the company’s artistic director, said she’s excited to expand the series into Surrey.

“The staged readings we’ve done have been amazing for us,” she said. “It’s like seeing a play but it’s more about using your imagination, so you have great actors reading it. It’s like a radio play or when you were a kid and you had a parent who was especially good at reading you a story. It’s that sort of thing, and when we’re rehearsing we don’t have to worry about the blocking and that kind of stuff, it’s just really the essence of the story.”

Show tickets are $15 each. In Surrey, seats for all four plays in the series are $45; the cost is $40 for the series in White Rock. More details can be found at peninsulaproductions.org, or call 604-536-8335.



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

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Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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