WHITE ROCK — If you've ever had a moment that made you realize you're no longer a spring chicken, then you'll be up to speed with all the cracks in White Rock Players' Club's upcoming production of Quartet.
The charming play, written by Ronald Harwood, stars four ex-opera singers living together in a retirement home as they come to terms with the realities of getting older, while still dealing with past wounds.
"To a very large extent, it's (about) the pitfalls of the challenges of growing older and dealing with the fact that, inside, you're still the same person, you just can't do some of the things you could do," said Adrian Duncan, who plays the part of Wilf, a jokingly lascivious widower.
"You haven't lost your spirit, and this is a challenge, and four different people in this play are dealing with it in their own individual ways."
Duncan stars alongside George Stone (who plays the embittered Reggie), Alison Schamberger (the flirtatious and increasingly eccentric Cissy) and Nina Shoroplova (the diva Jean).
In all, the actors said Sunday afternoon (March 29) during rehearsal at Coast Capital Playhouse, the story is about growing older while never truly growing up.
"I think that... I don't know about women, but for guys, they get to a certain point in their life and they realize that some of the things they thought were important in the past aren't as important as they thought they were," said Stone, a recent Alberta transplant.
"I think that Reggie in this play has come to that point, he says, 'This place has been so calm and so agreeable' ... there was this one huge problem in the past – that lady there," Stone said, pointing to Shoroplova with a laugh.
"That kind of upset everything that he had found, so that's the motivation for him anyways, to turn into what he turns into," he said.
Unlike their characters, however, the actors seem to have fewer personality conflicts.
"I hadn't met any of these people before six weeks ago, when we started and it, absolutely amazes me how we so easily slid into being a group," Stone said.
With age comes less pretension, Schamberger added.
"I think the thing is, at a certain age, you don't really have too much to prove to people, so that's part of it," she said. "When you're in a cast (with) a variety of ages, you see people kind of strutting their stuff and showing off and trying to gain points with each other. But at this point in our lives, we don't really have that to prove anymore, so I think we can really be relaxed with each other."
Shoroplova interjected, "We're enjoying the slide down."
Quartet runs from April 8 to 25 at Coast Capital Playhouse. Tickets ($18) can be purchased at Whiterockplayers.com and at the theatre's box office, 1532 Johnston Rd.