Theatre 2024: Dangerous Corner @ Dundas Little Theatre

 Recently we visited Dundas, Ontario which is now considered a satellite suburb of Hamilton.  We found this small community to be charming and vibrant, especially since we were there on the weekend before Halloween and found ourselves in midst of a bagpipe-led parade complete with costumed children, adults and pets alike, followed by a trick-or-treat event where all the local stores had candy ready for the neighbourhood children.

“Dundas Little Theatre” is an amateur theatre company that has been part of the local art scene since 1960. We watched the opening show of their 2024-25 season, which was the 1932 play “Dangerous Corner”, the first of many social commentaries written by English playwright J.B. Priestley.  Years ago, we watched his most famous play, the much adapted “An Inspector Calls” which deals with the class divisions and social responsibility for those less fortunate.

Dangerous Corner deals with secrets and lies and whether it is better to “let sleeping dogs lie”, as the old English idiom goes. To drum in this point, the play starts with three upper-class women dressed in evening gowns (Freda, Betty, Olwen) plus a modestly dressed elderly lady (Miss Mockridge) listening to a radio program named after that saying.  This play-within-a-play ends with a gunshot and a scream. As they discuss the show, they are joined by tuxedo-clad Robert, Gordon and Charles who all work at the same company along with Olwen.  Robert is married to Freda and Gordon to Betty while Charles is clearly smitten with Olwen.  Miss Mockridge is an esteemed author looking for ideas for her next book.  This group with their simmering emotions and secrets kept just under the surface provide her with delicious fodder.

The group partake in banal conversation while Gordon fiddles with the radio looking for dance music to liven up the party but finds only static.  A seemingly innocuous statement by Olwen triggers a cascading series of revelations about a suspicious suicide (or was it?!?), stolen money, marital infidelity, unrequited love and even sexual assault and homosexuality, which seem to be very risqué topics for the 1930s!  By the end of the play, none of the characters are any better off for having their secrets revealed, as relationships and friendships are torn apart.  Then in a “time-reset”, which is a trope for what has become known as Priestley’s “Time Plays”, the action rewinds to the beginning.  In this alternate timeline, Gordon successfully finds dance music which distracts everyone from questioning Olwen’s triggering statement.  Instead, they all dance happily and avoid the “Dangerous Corner” that they might have turned into.

To match the wealthy, upper-class English setting of the 1930s where Dangerous Corner takes place, both the wardrobe of the characters and the set design reflect the Art Deco style of the times.  I was impressed by how elegant and elaborate the gorgeous set was, especially for a show that only ran for two weeks.  In particular, the fireplace and mantlepiece, light sconces, stained glass designs on the double-doors at the back of the stage and the settees and lounger really sold the Art Deco time period.  The set designer Graham Clements revealed that some of the furnishings were borrowed from the Players’ Guild of Hamilton.

At the front of the stage is a table on which a chess set sits and at the start of the play, several pieces were knocked over and a couple had fallen onto the ground.  I was convinced throughout the show that there was a clue in this chessboard as to what was happening, especially since the pieces were picked up and then knocked over again in subsequent scenes.  I even studied the opening move of the pieces at half-time, trying to glean meaning from it. This all turned out to be a MacGuffin (stealing a term from Alfred Hitchcock) as the chessboard never figured into the plot.

One other interesting note for this rendition of Dangerous Corner is the addition of a maid who has no lines, but whose sole purpose seemed to be to aid the elderly actress playing Miss Mockridge up and down a couple of steps leading on and off the stage.  Considering that at least two other actors stumbled slightly on those steps, this might have been a wise move.  While the “dangerous corner” referenced in the play is purely psychological, these steps might have been the physical manifestation of this peril.

Given that this was a production by a self-proclaimed amateur theatre group, the overall acting and production value was stellar and quite enjoyable.