The fix is in
Lunchbox Theatre play is a snappy, entertaining break
Published February 18, 2010  by Drew Anderson in Theatre

Mr. Fix It presented by Lunchbox Theatre
Lunchbox Theatre
Monday, February 1 - Saturday, February 27

Sure he can fix any coffee maker, toaster or lamp, but Mel has to deal with fixing something more important in Lunchbox Theatre’s latest — his failed marriage. Yet, despite the potential for a conflictual and tense script, Mr. Fix It is an easily digestible and fun production.

Playwright Caroline Russell-King was aiming for humour in this play, and it’s certainly got some funny moments, mingled with anger-tinged back-and-forth banter between Mel (Brian Jensen) and his ex-wife Edna (Barbara Gates Wilson). Well, she’s supposed to be his ex-wife, but it turns out a clerical error on their divorce papers means they’re still married.

Edna is going to marry her new yoga-loving, massage therapist boyfriend, Donald, and she needs Mel to sign off on new papers. She goes to the Palliser Hotel, where Mel is living, in order to seal the deal.

“You’re still my wife?” says Mel before asking her, in wry moment of wit, “What’s for supper?”

These humorous exchanges are the highlight of the production, which calls for quick timing from both actors. The downside is the more terse exchanges. Jensen is solid throughout, alternating effortlessly between anger and pathos, but Wilson struggles with the role of angry ex-wife. Her frustration seems forced.

The set is a simple affair — a square rug with a double bed facing a desk cluttered with tools, a coffee maker and a bottle of Jameson. The seating is arranged around the stage, allowing multiple viewing angles and a different experience depending on your choice of seats.

Throughout the course of the play, the audience gets to know the relationship that was — troubled and terse — and witness the lingering connection between the two characters. Again, however, that relationship feels forced. There are moments of tenderness, moments of anger and moments of wit, but the believability of the situations ebbs and flows along with the characters’ emotions.

The script is the star of this show, with effortless, undulating rhythms that keep the play snappy and entertaining. Russell-King wrote the script as homage to Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Neil Simon, and although this play won’t win an award of that significance, it’s not hard to imagine that Simon would be pleased by the honour.

With some decent insight into the struggles of relationships and the twists lives can take, Mr. Fix It isn’t going to leave you craving answers to life’s biggest questions, but it’s a fun hour at the theatre.

Learn to mend a broken heart in Lunchbox Theatre’s Mr. Fix It

Alicia Ward
Gauntlet Entertainment

February 04, 2010

Some people might think that the play Mr. Fix It is just another feel good romantic comedy — and they’re right.

Long time Calgary playwright Caroline Russell-King wrote Mr. Fix It for Lunchbox Theatre in the hopes that people will be able to “have a break, to have a laugh, that’s what Lunchbox is all about.”

Mr. Fix It follows Mel, a chain appliance store owner, as he encounters his ex-fiance and deals with his past. Russell-King knew she wanted to write a comedy in homage of one of her favourite playwrights: Neil Simon. Simon has had major success with his works, winning three Tony Awards and a Golden Globe.

“Neil is often dismissed in academic circles despite winning a Pulitzer prize,” says Russell-King.

“Simon has a rhythm” and, as Russell-King puts it, she “soaked [it] up.” Mr. Fix It happens in real time, as do Simon’s plays, such as California Suite, one of Russell-King’s favourites.

Even though she’s a Calgary playwright, Russell-King gained no inspiration for Mr. Fix It from the city.

While writing, Russell-King instead found inspiration from her first husband, a comedic actor.

“I had his voice in my head while writing it,” she says.

Additional inspiration came from Russell-King’s concern with the importance of confronting the past to analyze the present. Delving into the past may be enough to drive one crazy, but that doesn’t mean it should be left unexplored.

“[Did I make] a fresh mistake or an old one?” she asks.

Despite the short time slot not giving the playwright much time for crazy plots and in depth character development, Russell-King is not fazed.

“I don’t find writing one act plays any harder than writing four act plays . . . it’s the Lunchbox genre,” she exclaims.

Revelations and personal growth may be found in Mr. Fix It’s 45 minutes, but first and foremost Russell-King wants people to break from their busy days and enjoy themselves.

“I love to make people laugh,” she says, perfectly capturing what Mr. Fix It is crafted to do.

Eyes fixed on Lunchbox’s latest comedy

By LOUIS HOBSON, CALGARY SUN

Last Updated: 3rd February 2010, 10:14pm

By HALFSTEP TUE, FEB 2 2010

BY STEPHEN HUNT, CALGARY HERALD

FEBRUARY 4, 2010

Spotlight

Mr. Fix It, by Caroline Russell-King, runs at Lunchbox Theatre through Feb. 27. Tickets: 403-265-4292

—

Caroline Russell-King is the author of Mr. Fix It, which opened Tuesday at the Lunchbox Theatre, where it’s playing through Feb. 27. Centre Stage caught up with King on Tuesday.

Q: What’s Mr. Fix It about?

A: It’s a one-act romantic comedy about a man who wants to fix his relationship, but he can’t fix himself.

Q: What was the genesis of the play?

A: The truth is, I was inspired by the Neil Simon plays of my youth. I did dinner theatre when I was in my 20s, and I wanted to pay homage to Neil Simon, who I think is a great comedic writer — he’s gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize and things, but he’s also dismissed, you know? Especially in academic circles. I wanted to write a Simon-esque piece, and he obviously wrote The Plaza Suite and California Suite, so I wrote the first Palliser Suite.

Q: Is this the first of a series of Palliser Suite plays?

A: Well, I think it’s possible that there’s a couple more waiting to come out. I have a couple rough drafts.

Q: You were the literary manager at Lunchbox for a number of years. Did reading all those plays help your playwriting?

A: I think the mistakes playwrights sometimes make is they don’t read enough plays. I read plays all the time. As a literary manager, being paid to read plays is kind of nirvana.

Q: Do you have a writing routine?

A: I’m really one of these people who needs to get away and go deep. So I like to actually seclude myself in the mountains, through the Banff Colony, or my husband will give me fabulous gifts where he will send me to Canmore and I’ll just shack up in a hotel and live, breathe, eat and dream the play. I’m not very good at little increments here and there. I don’t have one of those Stephen King, get-up-brush-my-teeth-work-forfi ve-hours, have-a-cup-of-tea-do-something-else. That’s not who I am.

Q: I heard you’re writing a play called Symphony in OCD. What’s that?

A: It’s about a woman who’s an obsessive compulsive cleaner. She comes home to discover her sister has given her a surprise house renovation. She gets home early. Her husband has Tourette’s and he’s a checker, a door checker, and she’s a compulsive cleaner. The sister comes in and the sister is losing her hearing, so she’s learning sign language. So you’ve got somebody signing, somebody checking and somebody cleaning. It’s extreme.

Q: What’s the status of that one?

A: I put it on the back burner when I got this show, so it will come back to the fore this year.

Q: Who besides Neil Simon are your comedy inspirations?

A: (David) Mamet. (Norm) Foster would have to be right up there. Bernard Slade — Same Time, Next Year — (still) holds up. He’s really great. (And) Stoppard. Tom Stoppard is a genius.

Q: What’s next?

A: I want to finish Symphony in OCD Major, which is in second draft and has a lot more work to do on it in workshop. And I just got a commission to do a brand new comedy called Shakespeare Under the Bed, so I’ll be working and developing that with The Shakespeare Company. It’s a comedy about Shakespeare, but he’s in contemporary times. It’s loosely based on the portrait that was found a few years ago in Ontario — nobody’s written about it! I can’t believe it. But, of course, Shakespeare’s got to show up so — it’ll be my first fantasy piece.

shunt@theherald.canwest.com

By LOUIS B. HOBSON, CALGARY SUN

Last Updated: 30th January 2010, 9:35pm

Calgary actor Brian Jensen admits he’s had to fix the odd thing like vacuum cleaners, toasters and relationships.

Sometimes the mending went well, but sometimes the appliance and the relationship had to be replaced.

“The awful realization is that if the relationship has ended it’s too late to try fixing it even thought that’s what we sometimes try to do.

“Then it’s a case of what happens after happily-ever-after collapses,” says Jensen whose had to deal with “those lingering feelings you have for the person you’re no longer with.”

What has Jensen mulling over those long ago broken appliances and broken relationships is his role in Lunchbox Theatre’s new comedy Mr. Fix It that opens Monday.

Jensen plays Mel, the owner of a chain of Mr. Fix It shops.

There isn’t an appliance Mel can’t fix but he’s hardly the same kind of wiz in the relationship department.

“Mel started out as an appliance repairman. He got so good he opened a shop and then two and three and then a whole chain of them.

“As his business was taking off, his marriage was crumbling.

“He had an affair which led to his wife wanting a divorce which he gave her.

“There’s a snag with the divorce papers so his ex-wife (Barbara Gates Wilson) comes to see him.”

Mr. Fix It, which was written by Calgary playwright Caroline Russell-King kicks off Lunchbox Theatre’s 35th season in Calgary.

“It’s exciting for Lunchbox to have a world premiere to help celebrate its 35th year because the company has showcased so many premieres over the decades.”

Jensen says it’s always exciting for actors to be involved in a premiere because “you have the playwright right there during the rehearsal process. You actually get to ask questions and feel you have some real input.”

He has nothing but praise for Russell-King’s script.

“Caroline says her play is a homage to Neil Simon and, like Simon’s best plays, the laughs are there but there’s a true bittersweet feeling to the story.”

“I think it all started when I played a Christmas tree in grade three. I got hooked.”

More recently, Jensen was seen as Marley’s Ghost in A Christmas Carol, and as a Great Blue Whale in The Invention of Music.

Tickets for Mr. Fix It, which is directed by Kevin McKendrick are available by calling 403-265-4292.

louis.hobson@sunmedia.com