Review: LADIES FOURSOME Explores the Secrets of Friendship

Golf is a game which requires patience and strategy, and in many ways, so does Norm Foster's 2014 comedy, The Ladies Foursome, mounted by Lewiston's Public Theatre. Directed by Judith Ivey and cast with a fine ensemble the four-character play about the secrets and sharing of a quartet of friends yields rewards for those who wait.

Foster's play, set on a golf course in his native Canada, chronicles the conversation and revelations shared by three women on the day after the funeral of their other friend, Catherine. Joining the foursome is Dory, who also knew Catherine throughout the years. As the quartet reminisces and lets their conversation wander to subjects as diverse of their love lives, sex partners, relationships with their children, the meaning of friendship, and the purpose of life and dreams, they gradually discover many new things about each other - things which test their bonds and eventually expand and reshape them. But as with eighteen holes of golf, the game and the talk are lengthy with moments of excitement and lulls. Foster writes with a mordent wit, and the repartee is rapid, yielding numerous clever laughs, though at times one wishes for less verbal sparing and wit and more moments of intimacy and honesty such as those which are increasingly unveiled in the second act. The play, which almost takes place in real time running over one hundred and forty minutes plus intermission, at times feels maddeningly circular and would have benefited from Foster's editing.

That said, however, Judith Ivey directs masterfully, creating as brisk a pace as possible with the material and mining the essentially actionless, dialogue-laden script with sensitivity and intelligence. The Public's cast is uniformly excellent, each actress creating a sharply delineated portrayal of her character. Janet Mitchko is endearingly plain-spoken and forthright as Margot and her final epiphany makes a strong impact. Tarah Flanagan makes Tate a fluttery, wispy, nervous, compulsive, and repressed housewife with hidden dreams, while Brigitte Vielieu-Davis plays Connie as an outwardly confident, seductive, competitive woman, whose ultimate revelation of a more vulnerable heart is touching. Dory, the "outsider" who joins the group for the day and ends by transforming a golf outing into a therapy session, is subtly played by Caralyn Kozlowski, who reveals her own demons and the secrets of their friend Catherine in an outpouring that leads to healing at the final curtain.

The unit set depicting a summer golf course by Kit Mayer is both functional and attractive, and Bart Garvey uses his lighting design to create a sense of movement and the passage of time. Jonna Klaiber attractive designs for the ladies' golf wear help to create the character distinctions.

The Ladies Foursome is a tribute to the pitfalls and pleasures of friendship and to its lasting significance in our lives. For, perhaps ironically, it is the absen, deceased friend who acts as the catalyst for change in the lives of her surviving friends.

Photo courtesy Public Theatre

The Ladies Foursome runs from January 22 - 31, 2016 at the Public Theatre, 31 Maples St., Lewiston, ME. www.thepublictheatre.org 207-782-2211.

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