It has been six years, but local theatre company Short Skirt Theatre is finally back — bringing a Star Wars-inspired pantomime to Millennium Place for three nights starting on Friday (Feb. 24).
A Long Time Ago (In a Ski Resort Far, Far Away) is the brainchild of writer and director Heather Paul, and features a colourful cast of local characters, including Angie Nolan, Karen Playfair, Chris Quinlan, G.D. Maxwell, Mike Wilson and others.
“It’s very much inspired by sci-fi movies and there is a character named Fluke and the swords are made of light,” laughed Paul. “But it’s all about Whistler. You can’t really do a farce about this town without talking about the asphalt plant and pay parking. So we found a script that had some Aladdin in it, had some space themes in it and took that script and I wrote it to adapt to Whistler.”
Set on the planet of Whistleria, Princess Orion (played by Megs McLean) is engaged to what Paul describes as “a flatulent cheesebag of a prince” (Wilson). However, a ski-limo pilot name Fluke (played by Shannon Hearn) is also in love with the princess but must keep the feelings to himself to keep his mother (played by James Barnett), the wedding planner, in a job.
From there the plot just gets more bizarre and without saying too much, Paul promises it will thoroughly entertain both kids and adults alike.
“The play is a love letter to the town of Whistler," Paul added.
A Long Time Ago (In a Ski Resort Far, Far Away) runs from Friday to Sunday at Millennium Place. Tickets are $20 and are available at Millennium Place or online at http://bit.ly/nSVewU. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.
Paul noted that kids are also invited to come out to the show.
“Kids will have a great time following the fairytale love story, space heroes, funny song and dance scenes and, above all, they will delight in the fact that all audience members are encouraged to boo the villain and holler encouragement at the heroes,” said Paul.
For more on this story, check out Thursday's Question.
