Stage Review - Drinking Habits (Edmonds Driftwood Players)
Stage Review - Drinking Habits
Presented By: Edmonds Driftwood Players - Edmonds , WA
Show Run: May 16 - June 08, 2025
Date Reviewed: Thursday, May 22, 2025
Run Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes (including a 15 minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
The latest show running on stage at the Wade James Theatre in Edmonds and presented by the Edmonds Driftwood Players is also the latest of the many farces that have been on Seattle area stages this year. Yes, there have been a lot of escapist shows like Tom Smith’s Drinking Habits, the story of a pair of nuns at the convent of the Sisters of Perpetual Sewing who, in an attempt to keep the convent financially solvent, make and sell wine to the citizens of their local Italian village. There may be just as many of these comedies as there are shows that directly address our current political and social climate, which says a lot about the world we live in. Theaters are either challenging audiences with topical shows that make them think or call them to action, or they provide a few hours for them to get away from the stress of it all. Drinking Habits, directed by Bryar Freed-Golden and running on stage through June 8, is very much the latter, and if the goal of the show is to provide that escape through absurdity and humor, then this production more than accomplishes its mission.
The Sisters of Perpetual Sewing is a pretty important convent, after all, they’re responsible for repairing all of the robes, gowns, and other clothing from the Vatican and surrounding churches, convents, and monasteries. But it’s also in trouble. Other than Mother Superior, there are only two nuns in residence, Sister Augusta and Sister Philomena. And while Mother Superior is a stickler for the rules, and isn’t one to “do what it takes” to help the convent stay afloat, the sisters are banking on the fact that God will forgive them if they bend a few rules, or lie just a little bit if it means that their mission is sustained. To do that, the sisters, taking advantage of the fact that their convent is adjacent to its own vineyard, produce not just Mother Superior’s famous grape juice, but also another product that uses the same grapes and can garner more money for them through sales to the local citizenry. It’s been a challenge keeping their wine production secret, but it’s about to get even more challenging when reporters Sally and Paul arrive, investigating the heretofore unidentified winners of a wine making award, with only the knowledge that someone in the area of the convent and its village has been producing high quality wine but also refusing to identify themselves. Add to that the addition of a new nun to the order, one who has her own secret, and things get out of hand pretty quickly. Reporters end up having to pose as nuns, groundskeepers as priests, priests as nuns, nuns as cardinals. As the reporters go undercover and get closer to the truth, they’re forced to come to terms with the morality of bringing their findings to light, but that’s the extent of what could be considered a heavy topic, well that and the fact that the reporters were previously engaged, with Sally abandoning Paul at the alter in order to chase a scoop, but that’s handled more comically than seriously, as everything else in Drinking Habits is.
The story has all of the standard elements of a farce, and when Mother Superior suspects that there is a spy in their midst, because Rome is testing them to see if their convent is viable, of course she doesn’t point the finger at the right person, and as in most farces, nobody seems to be exactly who they claim to be, and with all of the underhandedness, the sisters keeping their winemaking from Mother Superior, the reporters keeping their identities and reason for being there from everyone, and new nun Sister Mary Catherine keeping her secret from as many people as they can, it’s clear how all of these secrets can catch up to the group and make things just a bit chaotic. The play starts slow, and whether that’s because Thursday is the first show after a few days off, or because the comedy in Drinking Habits doesn’t get rolling for a bit I don’t know, but when it does get going, it’s one absurd situation after another, one physical gag after another, and one creatively designed and executed scene after another. This is a true ensemble piece, and the group works extremely well together, their comedic timing is just phenomenal, their pace is so quick they bring the show in 15 minutes shorter than the published time, and they look like they’re having fun together on stage, all things that make a farce like this work. The only things that don’t work as well are some of those pieces of dialogue that lean to the serious. Groundskeeper at the convent George, played by Avery Medalia, spends a few minutes at the beginning of the play recalling his time at the orphanage he grew up in (it’s a monologue that provides enough insight into the character to fully understand his personality), speaking to Sister Philamena and Sister Augusta, but as he speaks, he addresses the audience a bit too much, making it seem as though he’s speaking to them and not the sisters. There’s also the more serious conversations between Sally and Paul, played by Maleah Muriekes and Maks Norr at the beginning and end of the play, that feel somewhat flat, lacking some of the flair in the delivery that they bring to their comedic lines.
Otherwise, though, all of the actors are superb at the delivery of this play, especially in the way they work together. Sister Augusta (Somtochukwu Muo) and Sister Philamena (Juli Brown) are a fantastic and funny pair together, a perfect comedy team, with Somtochukwu as more of the straight and Juli as the comic, but that’s not to say they’re not both hilarious, they are. Somtochukwu as Sister Augusta is extremely good with the physical aspects of their character, the timing of their delivery, and their hilarious expressions all stupendous, while Juli as Sister Philamena is excellent with comedic dialogue and their ability to act flustered when her character is placed in certain awkward situations. Individually, they’re good, together they shine. Meanwhile, their “boss”, Mother Superior, is played by Carol Richmond and she is also good, even more of the straight in this role, the serious one, who doesn’t want the word “wine” even mentioned in conversation, an exemplary stodgy Mother Superior. Avery as George the groundskeeper is also extremely funny in his own way. He comes across at first as being simple, perhaps a bit on the dumb side, but really he’s just a man with a really good heart and a belief in a love for a girl that he met when he was younger and that he hasn’t been able to let go of. He’s always willing to help, and Avery is good, especially when he gets called upon by the local priest, Kenneth Telesco’s Father Chenille, to go undercover himself, to investigate the arrival of another new priest, who Chenille thinks has come to take his job. One of the things that makes this play so funny is the sheer amount of paranoia that drives a lot of the actions of everyone here, and what they do as a result of it just builds and builds until it becomes a tangled web of lies, mistaken identities, confusion, and laughter. A lot of that laughter comes from Kenneth’s work as Father Chenille, too. He’s energetic, extremely positive, though of course looking over his shoulder when “Father Paul” arrives, but he’s a great counter to the stodginess of Mother Superior. Maleah and Maks are good together as the pair of ex-fiancée reporters on the lookout for the makers of that award winning wine as well. Maleah is hilarious as she dons a nuns habit and tries to convince the sisters that she is the new arrival, Sister Mary, and Maks is a master of disguise and of timing as he displays through incredibly timed costume changes and entrances. Finally, there is the real Sister Mary, Sister Mary Catherine, played by Amanda Petrowski. Amanda is sweet in this role as Sister Mary Catherine, but her character has a secret, though not the one Mother Superior thinks she has, and when her own paranoia gets the best of her, she does some of her best individual work.
But again, it’s as a group where this cast is so good, and the way director Bryar Freed-Golden has designed this play along with her creative team. The set is simple, and is the religious version of the apartment or flat of the standard British farce, with various furniture and a whole lot of doors. There has to be doors for the comedically timed entrances and exits, and they have to be used perfectly for the right effect. Thomas LeClair is the scenic designer, and he’s got a little bit of everything here. Along with properties designer Nancy Johnson, the stage is rife with religious props, symbols, and artifacts, including a very nice stained glass effect. Matt Jorgensen’s sound complements the overall mood of the piece, and Ella Tennant Swenson’s costumes are perfect for a story about nuns dressing as priests dressing as cardinals (and so on). My only question on the costumes would be around the shoes, especially with Sister Augusta and Sister Philomena. I realize that some nuns do wear heels, but most lean toward comfortable flats or very low heels, this pair’s shoes seemed a bit tall in the heel, and Somtochukwu’s shoes exposing the top of her foot except for a single strap doesn’t feel like it fits together with the rest of the wardrobe. Finally, Brent Stainer’s lighting is simple, but good, lighting the stage brightly for most of the show, except for what is the scene that stands out above all of the others, in which his lighting plays a big part.
I don’t usually mention specific things that directors do on stage, though I usually credit them for the quality of a show, or the team they put together, or for their vision of a story, but I’m going to step away from that here. What I’m referring to is really an achievement that is the result of a combination of Bryar, the cast, and Brent’s lighting. Each day at this particular convent, when the sisters hear the bells, they must remain quiet, they’re not allowed to speak at all until they hear the bells again. Now, there’s always a scene in a farce when things come to a head, when people are going in and out of doors, quickly running around the stage, reacting to things they’re seeing but not believing, all of the things we’ve all seen before. But in Drinking Habits, just when that’s about to happen, the bells ring, and the lights change from a bright white to more of an amber hue, or a yellowish white, and the next few minutes for the audience is like watching a silent film unfold on stage, complete with piano accompaniment piped in through the theater’s sound system. Considering that the last silent film created for general distribution was in 1930, 95 years ago, it seems almost impossible to expect a cast to be able to present a scene with the speed and ferocity, the expressiveness and emotion, and the true spirit of a silent film, but this cast does, and the whole scene is an absolute delight, it’s my favorite part of the show and it shows how cohesive Bryar has this group performing together.
Drinking Habits, Tom Smith’s religious farce about two nuns secretly making wine against their Mother Superior’s wishes to keep their convent afloat, has all the ingredients for an escapist’s dream. There is no time to think about the stress of the outside world during the Edmonds Driftwood Players’ latest production, as the laughs come one after another, and the pace of the show is so quick audiences may not be able to catch their breath until the final twist is revealed and the curtain falls. With an ensemble that works together as well as any, and who grasp the ability to deliver on physical and situational comedy, Drinking Habits is a play you’ll want to come out and see, just remember to check your stress at the door.
Drinking Habits, presented by Edmonds Driftwood Players, runs on stage at the Wade James Theatre in Edmonds through June 8. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://edmondsdriftwoodplayers.org/.
Photo credit: Dale Sutton
