Blyth Festival 2009 – Michael Melski’s Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad

reviewed by Paula Citron
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Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad
Blyth Festival
Written by Michael Melski
Directed by Miles Potter
Starring Shauna Black and Eric Coates
At the Blyth Memorial Hall, Blyth On until Sept. 5
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Nova Scotia playwright Michael Melski has had great traction with his 1999 hit Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad. The Blyth Festival version is absolutely terrific.

The play is set in a hockey arena where a pee wee league plays. One day Teddy, performed by Blyth artistic director Eric Coates, spots Donna, played by Shauna Black. He is divorced and she is a single mom. What ensues is Teddy’s courtship of Donna, although it becomes clear that their personalities are very different. We never see their 8-year-old sons but we certainly hear about them.

Coates is superb as Teddy, a beer drinking, fun loving school janitor. Black’s Donna is the perfect foil, an insecure and reticent teacher-cum-seamstress. Part of the fun is how their values collide, and director Miles Potter has done a superb job at drawing characters without forgetting the serious message of violence that lurks beneath.

Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad continues at the Blyth Memorial Hall in Blyth, Ontario until Sept. 5.