Sue Huff and Kevin Tokarsky in I, Diana, Northern Sabbatical Productions at Edmonton Fringe 2024. Photo by Axel Torres.

I, Diana (Stage 2, The Next Act Backstage Theatre)

By Liz Nicholls, 12thnight.ca

Narcissism requires constant maintenance and sustenance. In this light-hearted new relationship comedy, with a twist, from Linda Wood Edwards, we meet the kind of someone theatre blurbs love to call “a strong woman.”

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Diana (Sue Huff) is a prairie razzle-dazzler who styles her general demeanour and game after the Roman goddess of the hunt. The centre of the universe, as she declares cheerfully of herself.  Diana is, naturally, an indefatigable collector and discard-er of followers (all men, as you will surmise). Getting married on high holidays — like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, 9-11, or the closing night of a community theatre production of South Pacific —  “elevates” the whole affair.

A serial divorcée, Diana is her own wedding planner, as you might expect. Marriages can go south, “but wedding photos can be controlled.” So Diana’s marital career unfolds in a set of amusing wedding photos, the obverse side of her mirror in the amusing design by Huff and Kevin Tokarsky.

The light-as-air fun of Wood Edwards’ production is that all the men, eye candy for Diana, are all played by one: the game Tokarsky, in a series of wigs that will make you laugh. He’s chosen in each case by Diana for a certain resemblance to a celebrity or a celebrated type— Richard Gere, Tom Selleck Don Johnson, the quintessential rancher dude, John Denver, Harrison Ford…. And glitches, for you to have the fun of discovering, begin to occur, every time. A continuing theme is that the men are considerably more interested in her children than Diana is, which she finds both perplexing and irritating.

Wood Edwards’ writing is peppered with droll asides that are the personal property of Diana, who (as Huff knows) is funny because she says witty things with a beaming smile and unsmiling, absolute, matter-of-fact certainty.  “I love you Diana,” says one of the smitten ones. “You hold some appeal for me, too,” she allows warily.

Sometimes it’s refreshing to have validation for your worst instincts, and this is the comedy to tease you with that prospect. Is there any reason for driving a station wagon when you could be at the wheel of a Ferrari?