Vera Ryan (left) and Jennie Baudais are performing in Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn at the Osoyoos Seniors Centre on March 30 and 31. It’s the first play to be staged at the centre. (Vanessa Broadbent / Osoyoos Times)

By Vanessa Broadbent

Osoyoos Times

The hardest thing about directing a dialogue-heavy two-person play that has little movement, according to Ted Osborne, is perfecting every single line so that it keeps the audience captivated.

He’s directing Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn, a one-act play coming to the Osoyoos Seniors Centre on March 30 and 31, and has found it a challenging but welcome task.

“The play is primarily sitting and talking,” Osborne explained. “That’s one of the hardest things you can do, to hold the audience for the length of the play.”

The play is a conversation between two long-time best friends, Clara and Gertrude, who have both lost their husbands and are making their own end-of-life arrangements. But in their conversation, a deeply tucked away secret surfaces and is one more thing the women have to work through.

“It’s a secret that tests their relationship,” Osborne said. “It’s very interesting; these are characters who can love each other, and they’re ones that can drive you crazy.”

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Jennie Baudais is taking on the role of slightly rude and snarky Clara, and she’s enjoyed mastering such a complex part.

“The more we do it, the more we learn about our character and find out who we are and how we would say certain things,” she said.

“When you read a line there’s so many different ways to say it so you have to really get to know your character and know why you’re saying it like that.”

She’s joined by Vera Ryan as Gertrude.

“It is a lot of fun especially to master a difficult passage,” Ryan said. “It really evolves with time; you really grow into that role and you start to see yourself in a certain way.”

While Osborne enjoyed the play’s story and clever writing, he selected it because its minimalism suited the stage at the Seniors Centre.

This is the first play at the centre and is a sort of trial run for more to come.

“There isn’t much of a stage there, it’s just a little platform, and there’s no room really for a lot of action,” he explained. “It has to be a ‘talky’ play, something that’s pretty minimal in terms of movement and sets and all that stuff – a table, two chairs, some food on plates, that’s it.”

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He had Ryan in mind for the part of Gertrude, but had a harder time finding a Clara.

Baudais, a snowbird and veteran performer from Saskatchewan, saw a poster advertising auditions and decided to give it a shot.

She and her husband were planning on heading back east at the end of March but extended their trip so she could participate in the play.

“To see these two, because they really are Clara and Gertrude when they’re in role, they’re amazing and they’ve taken on these characters and it just gets better every week,” Osborne said.

Baudais is promising both laughs and personal reflection for the audience.

“It’s comical, it’s funny, but it also has it’s moments – tender moments, emotional moments – but guaranteed you’ll laugh and it’ll tug at your heart strings.”

Save Me a Place At Forest Lawn is on Saturday, March 30 and Sunday, March 31 at the Osoyoos Seniors Centre. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., beer, wine and snacks are available from 7 until the curtain goes up at 8 p.m.

Seating is cabaret-style, and tickets are $15 and available at the Seniors Centre.