Patricia Darbasie and Pamela Schmunk in Iron Matron, Northern Light Theatre. Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography
By Liz Nicholls, .ca
“Who am I in my down time? Who am I when I’m alone with myself?”
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That’s the particular kind of identity question that floats the amusingly named Iron Matron, the new Trevor Schmidt play premiering Friday to launch Northern Light’s 51st season, “Life Takes A Turn.”
“In a way, it was all inspired by the title,” says the NLT artistic director of the germination of a play whose claim to a berth in the ‘Life Takes A Turn’ lineup is that the central character Alice (NLT newcomer Pamela Schmunk), at 60-plus and nearly divorced, is forced to move in with her adult son and his family. In an sparky act of self re-invention, Alice re-connects with her long-estranged college roommate Corinne (NLT fave Linda Grass)… to form a heavy metal garage band. Rock groupies together in college, they lost touch after that. And, in answer to their ad for a drummer, they are joined in Iron Matron by Rita (Patricia Darbasie, also a Northern Light leading lady of many seasons standing), a career musician who comes with her own challenges,
Patricia Darbasie, Pamela Schmunk, Linda Grass in Iron Matron, Northern Light Theatre. Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photographty
So amongst the “comic possibilities” unleashed by his premise for a play Schmidt still doesn’t quite know whether to call a comedy (“I really don’t know the genre: comedy? drama? farce”), is one closely related to the sheer fun of “Betty White swearing.”
And then there’s this: “what do we want to sing about?” says Schmidt of his trio of characters struggling to gain a foothold in the no man’s land (and I use the term advisedly) occupied by aging women: “too old for menopause and too young for dementia,” as one character puts it acerbically.
Schmidt locates the axis of his new play as “friendship” as it evolves over time. How do we keep friends over time? As our interests diverge, should we even try? How do we make new friends at 65?”
Alice is by no means a flawless character, buffed up for victimhood, as Schmidt describes: “abrasive, oblivious, a bit callous … an unreliable narrator for the marriage.” Generally, “she’s a lot!” laughs Schmidt of the role taken on by Schmunk. This new life chapter, in a heavy metal band, “is really about the road not taken. It’s ‘we’re getting this do-over’ — except that (as a musician) she’s actually terrible!” Forget talent. Alice’s view is that success in music is entirely dependent on “showmanship and personality … choreography, costumes, performance stuff,” and of course when it comes to the music industry, “she’s not exactly wrong.”
Patricia Darbasie and Linda Grass in Iron Matron, Northern Light Theatre. Photo bty Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography
Iron Matron arrives onstage after a writing process that has to count as unique. Every time Schmidt thought the script was finalized, and ready for rehearsal … it wasn’t. Circumstances changed, and so did his original casting — in age, in personality, in the dynamics of the ensemble. “You want to play to people’s strengths,” as he says. And Schmidt, who is after all both the playwright and director, re-tailored to suit his actors.
By opening night four different actors will have played Alice and Rita.“Linda Grass has been the constant,” says Schmidt of an actor who has perhaps more NLT credits than any other in town during Schmidt’s two-decade-plus tenure as artistic director. “This is her eighth show,” he says of the elegant, statuesque Grass, who’s “such a joy to have in a rehearsal hall.”
The characters don’t have to be good musicians, of course. In its way the premise is all about defying that label. But sound designer Lindsey Walker, a top-drawer singer-songwriter musician herself, did “a rock band boot camp” with the actors. Darbasie, the born-again drummer of the bunch, had never much as held a drumstick before. Says Schmidt, “Pat borrowed a drum kit” (Long & McQuade are sponsors), and practised unceasingly at home.
There’s a lot Schmidt doesn’t know about how Iron Matron will land with audiences. What he does know is that “this one is funny, and it has heart, without being sweet.”
Have you checked out the rest of NLT’s 51st season. Read all about it in this PREVIEW here.
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PREVIEW
Iron Matron
Theatre: Northern Light Theatre
Written, directed, designed by: Trevor Schmidt
Starring: Pamela Schmunk, Linda Grass, Patricia Darbasie
Where: Studio Theatre, Fringe Theatre Arts Barns, 10330 84 Ave.
Running: through Nov. 1
Tickets: northernlighttheatre.com