Hal and Cindy Savage have had enough of slogging through backwater Canada, performing in barely dinner theatre.

While in Flin Flon, groaning about their lot, they have an epiphany. Despite dearly loving their craft, the financially strapped couple opt to use their skills in a different realm; they become self-help gurus and oinkishly wealthy.

Move ahead seven years and we meet the Savages deep in the throes of nouveau riche delirium, complete with a twitchy maid and a gardener with an unfortunately prodigious tumidity.

Hal returns home after the movie he’d hope to see is sold out and discovers his wife on the verge of getting it on with the gardener. The shock of seeing Hal explodes the poor gardener’s heart and the game is afoot with a galloping roll of chuckles in the wake as the couple struggles to avoid controversy that would kill their business.

$elf Help, Kimberley Summer Theatre’s first of two shows this season, opened to a near full house at Centre 64 July 9 and Victoria-based producer Tony James and Cranbrook-based director Tanya Laing-Gahr have already got their players in top gear.

Playwright Norm Foster’s five-scene comedy takes cheeky swipes at the self-help guru industry – the modern version of the snake oil salesman – as well as point out that money changes people, so watch out ye seeking a fortune because you might become a hissing shrieker who will cling to materiality rather than do the right thing and then get into all kinds of hilarious sitcom situations.

Trishia Woodley and Stuart Fink star as Hal and Cindy Savage, with Fiona McIntyre as their new maid Bernice, a nervous soul who has benefited from the Savage’s expensive messages. Lisa Aasebo gives a captivating performance as the couple’s exuberant agent Ruby Delvecchio, while Jeremy Verkley and Brent Gill create tension (and relieve it) as greasy newspaper columnist Jeremy Cash and Detective Snow, who’s had a bad day.

Laughs come fast and in different billows and hoots in this often-hilarious play – an awesome way to wind down after a long day.

A good measure of how entertaining theatre is how quickly it passes. The two hour, 10 minute performance (including a 20 minute intermission) of $elf Help blazed past.

Self Help runs from July 9 to 27 at Centre 64.

Click on an image to enlarge and begin self-directed slide show.

A clip from the opening night performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E3WcJsSn1U

Go here to see their schedule and more information: http://kimberleysummertheatre.ca

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW and

Carrie Schafer/Through My Eyes Photography

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