Put your detective skills to the test as the hair-raising murder mystery comedy Shear Madness comes to St. Jacobs. Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as America’s longest running play, this hilarious whodunit is on stage Sept. 12 to Dec. 23 at the St. Jacobs Schoolhouse Theatre.
Hairdresser Tony Whitcomb and manicurist Barbara DeMarco comb through the tasks of a normal day until concert pianist Isabel Czerny is murdered. Tony, Barbara, and the Shear Madness customers – socialite Eleanor Shubert, antiques dealer Eddie Lawrence, and cops Nick Rosetti and Mikey Thomas – are all suspects. But whodunit? Witness the fun and take a stab at solving the crime.
“Shear Madness is a theatre experience like no other,” said Alex Mustakas, artistic director of Drayton Entertainment. “It’s an interactive comedy-mystery that brings audiences back again and again to help solve the crime.”
The production is in the hands with director Bob Lohrmann, who is the Associate Artistic Director for the John F. Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C., where Shear Madness has broken numerous box office records during its continuing (and unprecedented) three-decade run. Lohrmann is joined by set designer David Antscherl, costume designer Nicole Del Cul and lighting designer Jeff JohnstonCollins.
Shear Madness features a razor sharp six-person ensemble cast that keeps audiences guessing and laughing out loud.
Robbie Towns makes his Drayton Entertainment debut as quirky and colourful hairstylist Tony Whitcomb. Towns has appeared in numerous productions on the west coast including I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change at the Mayfield Theatre and Rock of Ages at Vancouver’s Arts Club.
Also making her Drayton Entertainment debut, Jacquelyn French will play gaudy, gum-chewing manicurist Barbara DeMarco, who is smarter (and more secretive) than she looks. French has appeared in Fiddler on the Roof, The Pirates of Penzance, Elektra and Romeo and Juliet at the Stratford Festival, and in several TV series including The Handmaid’s Tale, Reign and Schitt’s Creek.
Gordon Gammie will play Eddie Lawrence, a shady antiques dealer and customer in the salon. In addition to his stage experience, Gammie has appeared in a variety of movies and television shows including New Waterford Girl, Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making and Nova. He appeared in Drayton Entertainment’s production of The Crazy Time in 2015.
Kevin Sepaul and Gregory Pember are detectives Nick Rosetti and Mikey Thomas – the hapless cops assigned to investigate this wacky whodunit. Sepaul, who has played this role several times before, has also appeared in Norm Foster’s Looking and The Long Weekend at Globus Theatre Inc, among other theatre credits. Audiences may remember Pember from his roles in The Rainmaker, The Drowsy Chaperone, Beauty and the Beast and Rock of Ages.
Veteran actress Andrea Risk will play snooty socialite and salon client, Eleanor Shubert. Risk has appeared in One for the Pot and Boeing Boeing for Drayton Entertainment, among other shows. Regular performance tickets are $46 for adults, $27 for youth under 20 years of age, and $37 for groups of 20 or more and select discount dates. HST is applicable to all ticket prices.
Tickets may be purchased in person at any Drayton Entertainment box office, online at www.draytonentertainment.com or by calling the box office at 519-747-7788 or toll free at 1-855-drayton (372-9866).
