Sid Filkow may be most familiar to Salt Spring theatre-goers as one of The Geezers, who along with his late friend Arvid Chalmers mounted several shows that included appearances by the beloved old goofs.
But the actor who has had numerous other acting roles — and was a member of the legendary Salt Spring Hysterical Society — has increasingly immersed himself in writing plays.
Next Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8 and 9, audiences can see four 10-minute one-act plays written by Filkow, including a first-prize winner at the King’s Shorts international one-act playwriting competition in Nova Scotia in 2018, and some hot-off-the-press comedy sketches in an evening called Sutureself.
The idea for an evening of Filkow-esque drama was born on the dance floor of the Legion during a Wednesday night swing dance session about five years ago, recalls Sutureself co-director Steve Coopman.
“We just started talking about shows and about material. Sid showed me one of the scripts, which is the one-act play that won at the King’s Shorts — Hints and Allegations — and I thought, ‘Oh, this is good!’ But then we got sidetracked, and we did the Tom Thumb radio play instead.”
Filkow also wrote The Adventures of Tom Thumb, which royally entertained audiences at ArtSpring in July of 2023.
Other one-act plays included in Sutureself are A Bit of a Breakdown, which made the top-eight list at a subsequent King’s Short festival, and As Above, So Below, which made the first round of cuts; and a sequel to Hints and Allegations. Actors include Suzanne Rouger, Megan Colgan, Patrick Cassidy, Wyatt Floercke, Eric Pollins, Stewart Katz, Maggie O’Scalleigh, Drew Underwood and Rosita Larrain.
“They are seasoned actors who are having great fun with the material. There’s lots of laughs,” said Filkow.
Coopman, who directed numerous one-act plays as artistic director of Solar Stage theatre in Toronto, said the one-act play is challenging, “because you have to establish those characters, that situation, the whole plot, and engage your audience from the first moment because you’ve only got 10, 12, 15 minutes.”
A handful of comedy sketches, with a humour style they describe as being “somewhere between Mel Brooks and Monty Python,” are also on the menu, and he warns that some Salt Springers will recognize themselves in a final piece on a theme of “relationship recycling.”
“Any resemblance between what’s on stage and you is purely intentional,” joked Filkow.
The evening is also interspersed with historical answering machine messages “that would have changed the course of history if they had been heard,” said Filkow.
Even the scene changes promise to be entertaining, with two clown actors tasked with the job.
“There’s Furtive and Flourish,” explained Coopman. “One wants to be seen. One doesn’t. And they do the scene changes.”
“So there’s never a dull moment,” added Filkow.
Coopman and Filkow are grateful to Christina Penhale’s help in producing the show.
“She is just awesome,” said Filkow, commenting on Penhale’s technological wizardry and ability to put together a great production team and get things done.
Coopman is also proud of the programs.
“I’m hoping that people will take the programs home. They’ll find them so amusing.”
Tickets for Sutureself, which begins at 7:30 p.m. both nights, are available through ArtSpring.