Robin Ward and Brenda Bazinet on a winter’s day in Toronto
By Sheldon Lubliner

Theater
The Love List
Fri, Feb 8 thru Sat, Feb 23, 8pm
Wed, Sun Matinees, 3pm
Villa Jacaranda
Aldama 53
200–400 pesos

Two well-known Canadian actors are preparing to drop the snow shovels, put away the toques and gloves and leave the long winter of their discontent in Canada to head for beautiful San Miguel de Allende. This is not really a vacation for the two thespians, however. They are coming to do a play, which co-stars actor/producer Alan Jordan who now lives in San Miguel and actress Kirsten Dehner, also a resident.

The show is a comedy by Norm Foster called The Love List, and on a winter’s day in Toronto I recently caught up with Robin Ward, who completes the cast, and Brenda Bazinet who will direct the play.

Sheldon Lubliner: Robin and Brenda. I know you two are partners and live together in Toronto, but what’s it like to work together…in this case Brenda you will be directing Robin.

Brenda Bazinet: I have directed Robin in the theater before and we have acted together several times, and generally we both managed to survive the experience. I think when you’re partners and know each other so well, one has to remain professional and not bring one’s relationship and the slings and arrows of domestic life into the mix.

Robin Ward: I trust Brenda’s instincts as a director and have great respect for her abilities both as a director and as an actor so working with her is always rewarding.

But if we do have a difference of opinion during rehearsal, the challenge will be not to bring it home after work and ruin those star-filled nights of romance in San Miguel. In the past, we have always been able to leave the work in the rehearsal hall.

SL: Tell us something about the play.

BB: The Love List was written by Norm Foster, who is considered by many to be right up there with Neil Simon in his ability to capture the humor and neurosis of modern life. The Love List is the story of two middle-aged friends. Leon is a writer and a relentless womanizer, and Bill is a kind of nerdy statistician who hasn’t had a date since his divorce many years ago. On Bill’s fiftieth birthday, Leon gives his dear friend a certificate for a dating service, which he claims will set Bill up with the woman of his dreams. Well, without giving too much away, this sets in motion a series of bizarre events that neither Bill nor Leon could possibly have imagined and causes both to examine their lives and the very nature of friendship and romantic love.

RW: I think this is a wonderfully funny and irreverent play about the kind of hopelessly unrealistic expectations we all have in the romance department and how quickly we fall into the trap of idealizing the object of our affections.

It’s also about the friendship between two men, both completely different in their respective outlooks, both facing the loss of youth and coming to terms with some painful truths.

SL: So even though this is a comedy there is a serious side to the play? 

BB: I think good comedy has at its heart a recognizable truth both in its characters and in the journey they make throughout the play. We have to relate to these characters and be able to empathize with their trials and tribulations. In other words, we see ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances and that’s what makes The Love List truly funny.

SL: How do you both feel about coming all the way down to San Miguel?

RW: We are thrilled to be coming to San Miguel, a place I’ve dreamed of visiting for many years now. This is a fantastic opportunity to see the beauty and magic of San Miguel as well as getting to do a play which is wonderful fun and which we hope will amuse audiences in Mexico as much as it does people here in the frozen north.

BB: Our friend Alan Jordan is producing this play and he is one of its stars. Robin and I have both worked with Alan several times in Toronto and we have missed him terribly since he moved to San Miguel. When he asked if we’d like to come down and do The Love List, of course we jumped at the chance.

Tickets are on sale now for 200 pesos (300 with dinner or 400 for the three galas) at the Villa Jacaranda front desk; information www.theatersanmiguel.com  or 154-0352.

Sheldon Lubliner is freezing in Toronto. They did the interview there.

Playreaders present Harold and Maude

Theater
Harold and Maude 
Tue–Thu, Feb 5–7, 7pm
St. Paul’s Church
Cardo 6
Donation 20 pesos

Playreaders of San Miguel present the delightful comedy, Harold and Maude, starring Lois Read as Maude, BJ Abrahamson as Harold and Britt Zeist as his mother. Ben Westbrock will direct the production. Based on the cult movie of the seventies, this is the story of a most unlikely December-May romance between two like-minded people. Harold is a strange young man obsessed with destruction and death who becomes involved with Maude, an eccentric 80-year-old, eternally young spirit, who is curious about everything. They have many daffy and delightful adventures together to the bafflement and alarm of everyone they know. Doors open at 7pm and the play begins at 7:30pm, or earlier if the house is filled.