Overview

On a winter night in a drafty farmhouse a baby is about ot arrive. But modern medicine meets midwifery head on in a torrent of family feuding. As tensions rise between three dysfunctional generations, so does the laughter. It takes a baby to heal the rift in this funny, heartwarming story of forgiveness and hope

Review

Houstons prove there's hope at home

Robin Waples - The Sault Star

Dr. Bill Bingham (Harry Houston, left) and his
daughter, Carolyn (Kaila Wyslocky), clash over
her plans to have a midwife deliver her baby.
(Photo by Brian Kelley)

Carolyn’s got a bun in the oven, a turkey on the table and judgmental parents on the way over to stir up a stew.

Carolyn is the central character in Canadian playwright David S. Craig’s fractured-family comedy Having Hope at Home. The play is the Sault Theatre Workshop’s 61st-season opener, debuting Wednesday in the group’s Studio Theatre.

It was originally slated to hit the boards last December but was postponed for cast member Harry Houston’s emergency open-heart surgery. Houston is in fine form this time out, but the show has undergone other modifications, including a change of directors.

Harry’s brother George Houston — an award-winning professional actor and director who recently relocated back to his hometown — was asked to take over directing duties for this play when Richard Howard became unavailable. The resulting production is humourous, heartwarming and oh-so-relatable.

What’s particularly heartwarming to this longtime theatre-goer is seeing a show about family embraced with such joy by the Sault’s real-life theatre family — the Houstons. Not only do George and Harry get to contribute, but their father, Edward, stepped into the role of Grandpa Russell with just two weeks rehearsal after another cast member was forced to drop out. At 89, Edward doesn’t miss a beat on stage and, in fact, he steals the show.

As crusty Grandpa Russell, Edward Houston is salty, sweet and sour all at the same time. He delivers comic one-liners like no one else and you can’t wait to hear what he’s going to say next.

His bursting-with-life enthusiasm is hard to resist and combined with the sensitivity he conveys over his family’s situation, Houston gives a fully layered performance. Although his character has seen a lot of life and learned a lot of lessons, it’s hard to watch the younger generations of his family sometimes ignore that.

His granddaughter Carolyn — the one who’s nine-months pregnant and sharing his farmhouse with him and her life partner Michel — has invited Carolyn’s parents over for dinner in order to attempt a family reconciliation before the new baby arrives.

Kaila Wyslocky is convincing as the beaming-with-baby-but-stressed-over-parents young woman, who just wants peace in the family and hopes it begins with dinner and conversation. Steve Ancic is humourous as her harried partner who does what he can to keep the focus on what is important.

Harry Houston is maybe a little too nice as Carolyn’s supposedly rigid gynecological doctor father Bill, who has never hidden his disappointment at Carolyn’s choices in life. Christine Mair is appropriately snooty as Carolyn’s seemingly shallow mother Jane who, like all the others, prefers things done her way, and Bev Pelletier is entertaining as the hippie-ish midwife Dawn.

Although the production has its share of dysfunctional-family humour, it also has its share of insights into how the dysfunction started, how they dealt or didn’t deal with it and how the dysfunction will be handled once the newest family member arrives. It’s about soothing old wounds and realizing that maybe life is too short to inflict new wounds — especially upon those you love.