Laughs and soul-searching at King’s

Plenty of laughs as well as some sexual soul-searching are part and parcel of the Norm Foster comedy “Here on the Flight Path” this weekend at King’s Theatre.

Poor John Cummings. He’s divorced, he’s lonely and his life, it seems, has no direction. John is a newspaper columnist cum novelist. Oh, he’s writing a novel, all right, so he keeps telling people. But there’s nothing on paper yet. “It’s all up here,” he says, while pointing to his head.

John spends a lot of time on his apartment balcony, hoping to feel better about himself.

Then, quite unexpectedly, John meets three very different women who, one after the other, move into the apartment next to his. The first is Fay, who describes herself as a consultant. But is she really? It turns out “consultant” is actually a euphemism for her real profession. That’s right, she’s a hooker. Even so, Fay is a romantic at heart, although she doesn’t want to settle down. She knows all about husbands because of her work, and no thanks.

There is lots of verbal sparring, full of innuendo, between John and Fay. When John declares that according to Darwin’s theory of natural selection, a female bird prefers a male bird with a large beak:

FAY: Oh, and you think you might not have a large enough beak?

JOHN: Well, now, hold on. I didn’t say that. Let’s not get into talking about the size of a man’s beak. That’s very sensitive territory.

Eventually, Fay has to move out. Someone has ratted on her. In her final moments she offers John a freebee, Incredibly, he turns her down because Fay has become his friend, and accepting a freebee would jeopardize the friendship. However, the more her turns her down the more she is turned on by him as she stalks him around the balcony.

Fay is played brilliantly and with dignified aplomb by Susan Stopford.

Next, Angel Plunkett an over-the-top live wire of 20- something arrives from Alberta to take over the adjacent apartment. Angel’s father, a banker, is sending her money to live on while she pursues a singing career, and pursue it she does, going to every possible audition, whether it be for singing or acting. For one audition, she brings a script back and asks John to help her by playing one of the parts, which he does against his better judgment. In the script, the husband, played by John, announces he is leaving his wife for another woman, where-up-on Angel clobbers John repeatedly with her bag.

Angel freely discusses her sex life, eventually revealing that her singing teacher has seduced her on top of a grand piano. But now she must return to Alberta after learning her father has embezzled two million dollars from the bank.

Angel is played with flamboyant abandonment by Andi Rierden.

And finally there is Gwen, a driving instructor from Vancouver who has left her husband. Why, John asks her. Because, she says, he keeps blowing his nose into a handkerchief and tossing it into the laundry basket along with clothes that she puts on her body, and she doesn’t like the idea that there may be mucus on those clothes. So she gave her husband an ultimatum. Blow your nose in a tissue from now on, or I’m leaving. He wouldn’t, so she left.

When John suggests they have dinner together, she declines because she feels having dinner together a few times might lead to sex. “I’m not ready for a man to see me naked yet.” John points out that he as already undressed her with his eyes. “How did I look?” “Pretty damn good.”

Eventually they do get together sexually, and John asks her how he did, knowing how tough a driving instructor can be. She replies that he had no trouble getting his vehicle into gear, his parking was good and he didn’t go too fast. “Next time, though,” she says, “make sure no one else is coming before you pull out.”

It turns out that Gwen had not been entirely truthful. She did not leave her husband. Her husband left her. For another woman. But Gwen is going back to Vancouver. It’s really where she belongs, she says, and she will try to get her husband back. And she is gone.

Flora Hall portrays Gwen with tenderness and compassion.

In the end John declares he has gone from being a carefree man with no direction to a troubled man with no direction. He realizes that now he is actually looking for a meaningful relationship.

John is played by Wayne Currie in a way that is at once convincing as well as, at times, touching. It is no easy task. Wayne is on the stage for the entire duration of “Here on the Flight Path” represents the directorial debut of Brenda Keen. Brenda has acted in “Washing Soldiers,” “Five Stab Wounds to the Governor,” “Sylvia” as well as two King’s Shorts productions.

Jennifer Batiot served as stage manager. Adrian Nette and Lorne Keen provided the set; sound by Brian Rice as well as Geoff Agombar, who also handled lights. Props were provided by Anne Flewelling and Judy Dickinson. “Here on the Fight Path,” an Annapolis District Drama Group presentation, is playing at King’s Theatre November 20 and 21 at 8:00 p.m., with a matinee November 22 at 2:00 p.m.

Tickets are $10, $12 at the door, youth $5.